Departmental Traditions Versus Criminal Traditions?

According to reports awaiting confirmation, following the events of 20 October (a prisoner hunger strike), approximately ten prisoners were removed from Manevychi Penal Colony No. 42 (Volyn region) between 22/10/08 and 23/10/08.
To ensure that the remaining prisoners could not witness the events occurring within the colony’s residential zone, all prisoners were moved to the industrial zone on 24/10/08. Information from prisoners within the facility indicates attempted suicides by those whom the administration sent for transfer on the evening of 23/10/08, and those prepared for transfer on 24/10/08. According to unverified information, physical violence was used against some of the prisoners sent for transfer, specifically prisoner K. (the full surname is in the possession of the portal’s editorial office).
According to the latest information received from prisoners at the colony, which requires confirmation, on the evening of 24/10/08 and on 25/10/08, I. A. Stefanovsky, First Deputy Head of the Department’s Directorate in the Volyn region, summoned prisoners and used illegal interrogation methods to demand they disclose who possessed mobile phones and who was calling outside the colony to report on the situation. Information and interviews provided by the relatives of the prisoners were recorded by television channels 1+1, NTN, and STB.
On 24 October 2008, V. M. Zaremba, Chair of the Supervisory Commission under the Volyn Regional State Administration and First Deputy Head of the Volyn Regional State Administration, instructed O. O. Radoshchuk, Deputy Chair of said commission and Head of the Department for Cooperation with Law Enforcement Agencies and Mobilisation Work of the Volyn Regional State Administration, to visit the colony alongside regional supervisory commission member H. O. Kornievsky to verify the information coming from the prisoners.
The Department of Corrections in the Volyn region provided a vehicle for O. O. Radoshchuk, while H. Kornievsky was advised to travel in his own vehicle. Upon H. Kornievsky’s arrival at the colony, it emerged that, by order of I. A. Stefanovsky, he was not being admitted to the headquarters. A call to O. O. Radoshchuk’s mobile phone, informing him that a commission colleague had arrived and was waiting at the facility’s entrance to be let in, did not help. Radoshchuk replied, “And what is there for you to see here?” This is not the first time that Radoshchuk’s actions have contradicted his status as a member of the supervisory commission and discredited the commission’s activities.
Kornievsky spent several hours outside the institution, but was never allowed into the colony.
Relatives of the prisoners, who were near the colony on 24/10/08, witnessed an episode around 16:00 when Petro Andriyovych Kovalchuk (born 1983, residing in Lutsk) approached H. Kornievsky and reported that I. A. Stefanovsky, whom they knew, had just left the colony accompanied by an individual in a lieutenant colonel’s uniform holding a video camera. Stefanovsky approached P. A. Kovalchuk and said, “You crook, you’ll get yours yet,” to which Kovalchuk replied, “Do not threaten me.” Stefanovsky stepped right up to him and struck him in the face with his head. This took place near the colony in the presence of witnesses. Following these actions, Stefanovsky and the lieutenant colonel returned to the colony. As Kovalchuk reported, this was an operational manoeuvre attempting to provoke him and immediately record it on video. The head of the colony, O. V. Makarchuk, phoned the Manevychi District Police Department and reported that Stefanovsky had been beaten by one of the colony’s picketers. The investigation into the complaint was taken up by the Manevychi township prosecutor’s office. After P. A. Kovalchuk was invited to the police, he filed a complaint regarding the bodily harm inflicted upon him by I. A. Stefanovsky in the presence of witnesses. It is unknown how events will unfold, as I. A. Stefanovsky is the First Deputy Head of the State Department of Corrections in the Volyn region and is himself a native of the Manevychi township, but on the first day of the incident, the officers of the Manevychi District Police Department and the Manevychi prosecutor’s office acted in accordance with current legislation.

The report was prepared based on information from the assistant to the Chair of the Board of the International Society for Human Rights (Ukrainian Section) and work coordinator in the Volyn region, Heorhiy Kornievsky