Death of a prisoner in Vinnitsa Correctional Colony No. 86

The Vinnitsa Human Rights Group is concerned about the fatal incident that occurred on 3 July at the Vinnitsa Correctional Colony No. 86 of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments.

This is stated in a statement by the VHRG, the text of which is in the possession of UNIAN.

According to unconfirmed information, which has been documented as an oral report by the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group, the prisoner was beaten to death by members of the Colony No. 86 administration after he had a conflict with other inmates and the colony’s administration. Following his death, the deceased’s body was delivered to the Vinnitsa Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination, which is located on the premises of the Vinnitsa Medical University. Some of the deceased’s relatives were able to view the body in the morgue and report that there are numerous marks on the body that could indicate beatings, the VHRG report says.

According to human rights activists, for three days following the prisoner’s death, attempts were made to conceal the fact of the incident from the public, just as in the case of two suicides that occurred in June of this year in the Stryzhavka Correctional Colony No. 81.

The administration of Correctional Colony No. 86 stated that it does not intend to release the body of the deceased to his relatives for burial and will carry out the interment itself. However, the relatives of the deceased, who is of Roma ethnicity, are categorically demanding that the body be released for burial according to traditional Roma customs and that they be allowed to photograph the body.

Currently, the morgue of the Vinnitsa Bureau of Forensic Medical Examination is being blocked by representatives of the Roma community of Vinnitsa, who have sent urgent telegrams demanding that the body be released for examination and burial to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the Head of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments, and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The official version of the cause of death is a heart attack; however, according to unconfirmed information documented by the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group, several other prisoners were also brutally beaten alongside the deceased.

The Vinnitsa Human Rights Group notes that it is unable to verify this information, but it demands the immediate release of the deceased citizen’s body for burial, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine ‘On Burials and Funeral Affairs’, to those persons who have undertaken the duty of burying him. Human rights activists are calling on the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine to immediately send a commission to investigate all the circumstances of the death and the potential unlawful actions of the prison administration representatives.