Report on Torture

Monitoring the use of torture in the penal system of the Chelyabinsk Region. Press release of the Ural Democratic Foundation

Russian Prisons. Statistics

Brief overview of the penal system of the Russian Federation as of 1 August 2013

The Penal System in the First Half of 2013: Statistics

In the first half of 2013, the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine continued to see a significant decrease in the number of individuals within the country’s penitentiary institutions; the number of occupants in pre-trial detention centres reached an unprecedented minimum.

Pardon Rules Remain Unchanged

The Presidential Administration does not wish to change the Regulation on Pardons

Should Women Be Punished with Life Imprisonment?

The human rights organisation ‘Donetsk Memorial’ has submitted a proposal to abolish the criminal punishment of life imprisonment for all women.

Ukrainian prisons are emptying

The number of inmates in pre-trial detention centres in Ukraine continues to fall

A Section of the Annual Report That Was ‘Unlucky’

Some notes on the section of the Ombudsman’s report regarding the observance of prisoners’ rights

‘Humanism’ measured in the hundreds

Under the ‘economic amnesty’ in Russia, not even thousands, but only a couple of hundred people will be released. In fact, the latest ‘Putin amnesty’ has turned out to be as empty as the amnesty timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Victory Day, when only a few people were released from places of detention.

Parliamentary hearings on the observance of human rights in Ukraine. How the penitentiary system was presented

On Wednesday, 12 June 2013, Parliamentary hearings were held in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the topic of human rights observance in the country.

Report of the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: Presentation of the First Steps of the National Preventive Mechanism (Analysis of the Penitentiary Direction)

It is extremely necessary to increase the level of professionalism, attentiveness, and effectiveness of the NPM, as well as the ‘penitentiary direction’ of the Ombudsman’s office activities in general.

Problems in the Execution of European Court of Human Rights Judgments in the Penitentiary Sphere

The analysis conducted indicates the existence of significant deficiencies in the mechanism for executing ECtHR judgments, both by the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine and by the Government Agent before the ECtHR. Many essential provisions of the Court’s judgments remain ignored, resulting in some of them not being executed at all.

Pardons Under New Rules

A draft of the updated 'Regulations on the Procedure for Granting Pardons' has been submitted to the President of Ukraine. Letter to the President, text of the updated Regulations, and Explanatory Note