Press conference on the topic: ‘Torture in the Kyiv SIZO. Is it the norm?’

At 10:00 on Thursday, 05.11.2009, a press conference on the topic: ‘Torture in the Kyiv SIZO. Is it the norm?’ will be held at ‘Interfax-Ukraine’ on Reitarska Street in Kyiv.

Tymoshenko ordered 2 million gauze masks from prisons

The Cabinet of Ministers has agreed with prisons on the sewing of 2 million gauze masks.

Department Board Meeting Held

The regular meeting of the Board of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences took place on 26–27 October 2009. Press release

A Centre for the Registration of Homeless Citizens has been established in Donetsk

A centre for the registration of homeless citizens has been established and is operating in Donetsk. This report covers the experience of the Donetsk City Shelter for the Temporary Residence and Rehabilitation of Homeless Persons and the centre for the registration of homeless citizens.

Criminal-Executive Policy of Kazakhstan: New Vectors of Development

This article examines the problems of developing the criminal policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the current stage. The author proposes concrete measures for the further humanisation and liberalisation of Kazakhstan’s criminal policy, including through the rapid demilitarisation of the criminal-executive system and a wider application of punishments without isolation from society.

Human rights activists ask the Prosecutor's Office to inspect detention facilities in Mordovia

The “For Civil Rights” Committee has sent an appeal to the Mordovian Prosecutor's Office requesting an investigation into the situation in the republic's detention facilities. According to the committee, 36 percent of the complaints received from prisoners in Mordovian camps consist of allegations of cruel treatment, beatings, and torture.

European Committee for the Prevention of Torture visits Ukraine

The delegation of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has concluded its fifth periodic visit to Ukraine. Press release

The Criminal-Executive System of Kazakhstan: Indicators of Unresolved Problems

Currently, the criminal-executive system of Kazakhstan comprises 20 pre-trial detention centres and 75 institutions. As of 1 June 2009, they held 53,359 convicts and 8,736 investigative arrestees. Kazakhstan’s prison index is 382 people per 100,000 of the population—the 17th highest in the world. Conditions of confinement in many penitentiary institutions violate human dignity.

Case of suicide in Correctional Colony No. 31

On 7 September 2009, at 20:25, the body of convict K. was discovered in the dormitory of the social and psychological service unit of the Iziaslav Correctional Colony (No. 31).

Anti-award of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union “THISTLE OF THE YEAR 2009”

Every year on 10 December, the UHRU presents the “Thistle of the Year” Anti-award to individuals and government bodies that have most brutally violated human rights. You have the opportunity to point them out.

How many prisoners die in captivity?

Statistical data provided by the Department for the Execution of Sentences indicate that mortality among prisoners in 2008 was the highest in the last six years, and there were more suicide cases during those years only in 2007.

Ten years of supporting initiatives in the field of prison reform

A meeting of NGOs that received financial support from the International Renaissance Foundation this year under the “Human Rights in Penal Institutions” programme took place at the Foundation.