Ombudsman Wants to Expel ‘Special Forces’ from Pre-Trial Detention Centres

Within the structure of the State Penitentiary Service, special purpose units are operating without a proper regulatory and legal framework.
The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Valeria Lutkovska, has submitted a representation to the Minister of Justice, Oleksandr Lavrynovych, stating that for the past five years, special purpose units have been actively used within the structure of the State Penitentiary Service while operating outside of any legislative regulation.

In order to ensure the constitutional human rights to life, personal integrity, and dignified treatment for individuals while in penitentiary institutions, V. Lutkovska demands that measures be taken to cease the functioning of such special units until the issue of the regulatory and legal foundations for their activities is definitively resolved.

Furthermore, the registration of the Order of the State Department for the Execution of Sentences dated 10.10.2005 No. 167 “On Approval of the Regulation on the Special Purpose Unit” has been cancelled. The aforementioned order was removed from the State Register of Normative Legal Acts on 14.01.2008.