30 convicts pardoned by Presidential decrees

The first result of the work of the updated Commission on Pardons was the pardon of 30 persons. These are the first pardoned convicts since February 2014. Oleksandr Bukalov, head of the Pardons Department of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, spoke about this at a briefing on 24 July.
The last pardon in 2014 took place in February. After this, a change of leadership in the Pardons Department began, as well as the development of an updated version of the Regulations on the Pardon Procedure (adopted by the Presidential Decree of 21 April 2015). The composition of the Commission was appointed on 21 May 2015. Its work resumed in June. Petitions were reviewed according to the updated Regulations. The result of the first meeting of the Commission was the pardon of 20 persons; in July, the result of the second meeting was the pardon of 10 persons.

“There are still a number of issues regarding the application of pardons that require broad discussion, in particular, the issue of pardoning life-sentenced persons. The Pardons Department is open to initiatives and proposals that will contribute to improving the quality and transparency of its work”, – noted Oleksandr Bukalov.

Let us recall that Decrees on pardons are not published on the website of the President of Ukraine because they contain personal information about the convicts.

Of the 30 persons pardoned under two Presidential Decrees in June-July – 14 are women, one person pardoned is under 20 years old, 11 persons are over 60 years old, including three who are over 75 years old. Among the pardoned persons, only one was not involved in the death of victims; in two other cases, the deaths of victims occurred as a result of a traffic accident. For almost all those pardoned, this is their first conviction.

Seven persons were released from serving their sentences; for the rest of the pardoned, the term of punishment was reduced.

Among those pardoned, there are no life-sentenced persons, although several petitions were received from life-sentenced prisoners who had already served 20 years of their sentence.

“It is important to emphasise that if a verdict is unfair, the ‘error’ cannot be corrected by a pardon on this basis. After all, the correction of judicial errors is the prerogative of the courts”, – emphasised Oleksandr Bukalov.

A convicted person can initiate the review of a petition by applying to the administration of the institution where they are serving their sentence. The administration has no right to reject or ignore such an initiative and is obliged within 15 days to prepare and send a copy of the verdict, character reference, and other materials to the Pardons Department. Petitions from other persons and organisations may also be attached to them.

“A number of factors influence the decision on applying a pardon, first of all – the nature and circumstances of the crime, the personality of the convict, and their behaviour in places of detention”, – explained Oleksandr Bukalov. According to him, if after considering these factors there is hesitation about what decision to make, then the character reference from the colony, the number of penalties and incentives that the prisoner has, and other factors are taken into account. “It is worth noting that when reviewing petitions, none of the factors that influence the decision has absolute significance, that is, it cannot be the sole basis for making a decision”, – he emphasised.

Data on the work of the Commission under the President of Ukraine on Pardon Issues during 1994 – 2015
(published for the first time)

Year Pardoned

1994 170

1995 113

1996 260

1997 812

1998 927

1999 954

2000 1,351

2001 1,172

2002 685

2003 819

2004 1,191

2005 507

2006 1,018

2007 962

2008 855

2009 573

2010 146

2011 4

2012 21

2013 16

2014 2

2015 30