Prosecutor’s office reports to human rights defenders on the investigation of torture cases

On 26 June, as part of the “Against Torture” campaign, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU) sent information to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine about facts of torture in all regions of Ukraine, which had been received and verified by human rights defenders.

As is customary, the Prosecutor General’s Office distributed the information to its colleagues in the regions.

In August, the UHHRU began receiving responses. In particular, information was received from the Prosecutor’s Office of the Khmelnytskyi region regarding the events at the Iziaslav colony.

Let us recall that in 2007, almost all convicts of Iziaslav Colony No. 31 (more than 1,200 men) declared a hunger strike in protest against arbitrary imposition of disciplinary penalties, beatings and degrading treatment by staff, poor nutrition, and medical care. One of the prisoners’ demands was the removal of the colony’s head, his first deputy, and the deputy for regime from managing the colony. On the same day, a commission from the State Department for the Execution of Criminal Punishments arrived at the colony, and by the evening, the hunger strike was called off. But on 22 January 2007, a special unit in masks and combat gear was brought into the colony. They brutally beat more than 40 prisoners who were brought to the headquarters specifically for this purpose – exactly those who had stated the convicts’ demands to the commission. As a result of the beating, the convicts sustained bodily injuries: broken ribs, bones, noses, knocked-out teeth, etc. Immediately after this, they were divided into two groups and transported to the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi pre-trial detention centres, literally in the clothes they were wearing; all their belongings remained in the colony. In the pre-trial detention centres, the prisoners were again brutally beaten. Subsequently, they were transferred to other colonies to continue serving their sentences.

Regarding the human rights defenders’ appeal to verify this fact, the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office noted that no unauthorised measures or physical force were applied to the convicts. The initiation of a criminal case was refused.

The Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office also responded to the appeal regarding Ivan Nechyporuk, who was subjected to torture at the police station to extract a confession of murder. Nechyporuk told the court about how he was tortured, in particular: “They first put handcuffs on him, pushed his knees into the ring of his arms, put a crowbar under his knees, the ends of which were placed on the edge of tables. In addition, cords were attached to his legs and they began to apply electric current. To keep him from screaming, they gagged his mouth with a pillow.”

The court of first instance, considering the confirmed facts of torture, acquitted the defendant. However, the appellate and cassation courts sentenced him to 15 years of imprisonment.

What does the prosecutor’s office say? According to this body: “No torture or ill-treatment was applied to Nechyporuk. There are no grounds for prosecutorial intervention.”

The Kirovohrad Regional Prosecutor’s Office also sent its response to the UHHRU regarding the cases of Hrushchak and Kuian.

The prosecutor’s office reported that a criminal case had been initiated regarding the abuse of office by police officers against citizen Hrushchak, which is currently pending in court.

As for citizen Kuian, a criminal case was also initiated against the police officers who caused him bodily harm of moderate severity. However, for some reason, the facts of causing bodily harm did not find objective confirmation, and the case was closed.

We will inform you on our website about other responses that the UHHRU will receive from regional prosecutor’s offices.