Legal aid for convicted women

Members of the charitable organization “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre”, together with the Chernihiv City Supervisory Commission, are conducting work to provide legal aid to convicted women serving sentences in the Chernihiv Women’s Colony.
In April, a month of legal knowledge began in the correctional institutions of the Chernihiv region, which will continue until 28 June 2010.
Specialists of the Main Department of Justice in the Chernihiv region, members of supervisory commissions, lawyers of public and charitable organizations, leading specialists of government bodies and local self-government, teachers and cadets of the Chernihiv Legal College of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments are participating in the conduct of this month.
During the month, convicts will be familiarised with changes in civil, criminal, and criminal-executive legislation. A series of lectures on various areas in the field of law will be delivered, and convicts will be received for legal questions. They will be provided with primary and secondary legal aid. Norms of the Constitution of Ukraine regarding guarantees of basic rights of citizens, provisions of civil, housing, and family-marital legislation, which are most necessary for convicts for the self-defence of their rights and legitimate interests, will be studied with them. The final stage of the month will be the holding of the intellectual game “Know your rights and be able to defend them” on 28 June 2010.
In May, with the aim of realising the tasks of the month of legal knowledge, the Chernihiv Women’s Colony was visited by lawyers of the charitable organization “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre”, members of the Chernihiv City Bar Association, and lawyers of city public organizations.
V. V. Tarasov, Executive Director of the public organization “Chernihiv Public Committee for Human Rights”, and the organization’s lawyer N. O. Piddubna, as well as R. O. Zhankovskyi, a lawyer of the city youth public organization “M’ART”, answered questions from convicted women regarding the conclusion of life-maintenance (care) contracts and the conditions for the termination of such contracts, and also spoke about the procedure and conditions for the privatisation of housing and renting it out.
Lawyer S. M. Vodolahin held discussions with convicted women about the procedure for inviting and appointing a defence attorney as a participant in the court process, about his rights and duties, and also answered questions from the convicts about in which cases, during the conduct of an inquiry, the conduct of a pre-trial investigation, and the consideration of a case, the participation of a defence attorney is mandatory.
In our opinion, legal aid for women serving sentences in the Chernihiv Correctional Colony is extremely necessary because it contributes to the formation of legal culture among them, the development of the ability to use legal tools in practical activity, and will ensure their legal protection after release.

Valentyna Badyra,
Director of the charitable organization “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre”