Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee visited Ukraine

Strasbourg, 24 October 2013 – A delegation of the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out a periodic visit to Ukraine (from 9 to 21 October 2013).

The main objective of the visit was to review the situation of persons detained by law enforcement agencies, as well as remand prisoners, particularly in light of the provisions of the new Criminal Procedure Code, which entered into force in November 2012. To this end, the delegation visited a number of Ministry of Internal Affairs establishments and pre-trial detention facilities of the State Penitentiary Service (remand prisons). The treatment of prisoners at Correctional Colony No. 81 in Stryzhavka was reviewed once more; during its previous visit to this establishment in December 2012, the Committee indicated that the ill-treatment of prisoners was a common practice. Furthermore, the delegation carried out a first-time visit to Prison No. 3 in Kryvyi Rih, which held various categories of prisoners, including remand prisoners.

During the visit, the delegation held consultations with Inna Yemelyanova and Maksym Raiko, First Deputy Minister of Justice and Assistant to the Minister of Justice respectively; Oleksandr Lisitskov and Serhiy Sydorenko, Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the State Penitentiary Service respectively; as well as senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The delegation also met Hryhoriy Sereda, Deputy Prosecutor General.

Discussions were held with Valeriya Lutkovska, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Commissioner for Human Rights, and with representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism established under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT). In addition, the delegation met representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, members of the National Bar Association and the Free Legal Aid Co-ordination Centre, as well as representatives of non-governmental organisations active in areas of concern to the CPT.

At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to the Ukrainian authorities. The response to the delegation’s preliminary observations concerning the Ministry of Internal Affairs, published by that ministry on 21 October 2013, is incomplete. In particular, it does not fully reflect the observations made regarding the treatment of detainees by law enforcement officials.

The visit was carried out by the following CPT members:

– Latif Huseynov (Azerbaijan), President of the CPT (head of delegation);
– Marzena Ksel (Poland), First Vice-President of the CPT;
– Đorđe Alempijević (Serbia);
– Natalia Khutorskaya (Russia);
– Vincent Theis (Luxembourg);
– George Tugushi (Georgia).

They were supported by Borys Wódz, Head of Division, and Johan Friestedt of the Committee’s Secretariat, and were also assisted by Eric Svanidze, former prosecutor (Georgia).

The delegation visited the following places of deprivation of liberty:

Ministry of Internal Affairs establishments

Kyiv:

Podilskyi District Department
Sviatoshynskyi District Department
Holosiivskyi District Department
Kyiv Temporary Detention Facility (ITT)

Autonomous Republic of Crimea

Alushta City Department of Internal Affairs
Tsentralnyi District Department of Internal Affairs, Simferopol
Alushta ITT
Simferopol ITT
Yalta ITT

Dnipropetrovsk Region

Zhovtnevyi District Department of Internal Affairs, Dnipropetrovsk
Line Department of Internal Affairs at Dnipropetrovsk Railway Station
Saksahanskyi District Department of Internal Affairs, Kryvyi Rih
Dnipropetrovsk ITT
Kryvyi Rih ITT
Special reception centre for persons under administrative arrest in Dnipropetrovsk

Odesa Region

Malynovskyi District Department of Internal Affairs of the Odesa City Directorate and the Khmelnytskyi District Unit
Prymorskyi District Department of Internal Affairs of the Odesa City Directorate
Suvorovskyi District Department of Internal Affairs of the Odesa City Directorate
Odesa ITT

Vinnytsia Region

Vinnytsia District Department of Internal Affairs, Vinnytsia
2nd Unit of the Vinnytsia City Directorate of Internal Affairs
Vinnytsia ITT

Penitentiary institutions

Kyiv SIZO (remand prison)
Dnipropetrovsk SIZO
Odesa SIZO
Simferopol SIZO
Prison No. 3, Kryvyi Rih
Stryzhavka Correctional Colony No. 81.

During the visit, the delegation also visited Prison No. 1 in Vinnytsia to interview recently arrived convicts.

Translated from English by Vadym Chovhan (KHPG)