The Government has appointed Halinskyi as Head of the Department for the Execution of Sentences

After dialogue with public human rights organisations, the government settled on the candidacy of Oleksandr HALINSKYI

Mimicry or a desire for change?

The Cabinet of Ministers has dismissed Vasyl Koshchynets from his post as head of the Department for the Execution of Sentences... The right to appoint a new head has passed from the President to the Cabinet of Ministers... Does Tymoshenko want to secure the 144,000 votes of prisoners?...

Without the Right of Appeal

We usually recall the penal system only when we hear about prisoner protests or that some of them have passed away. Until then, there is no particular interest in events on the other side of the bars. And, with the silent consent of people who, deep down, are certain they will never end up ‘on the other side’, places of imprisonment continue to remain territories of total lawlessness. Although their inhabitants should be punished solely by the very fact of the deprivation of liberty,

The State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences has a new head

By an order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on 12 August, Vasyl KOSHYNETS was dismissed from the position of Head of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences

Problems of Ukrainian penitentiary institutions

A look from behind bars: ‘I must draw public attention to the facts of large-scale violations of legality occurring in institutions for the execution of sentences. I will talk about the conditions and regime of detention of convicts in minimum-security colonies with general detention conditions and medium-security colonies in high-control sections.’

New publications: Problems of ensuring the rights of convicts in the penal system of Ukraine

The 'Prava Liudyny' ['Human Rights'] publishing house has released a scientific publication by the Kharkiv Human Rights Group, 'Problems of ensuring the rights of convicts in the penal system of Ukraine', under the general editorship of Yevhen Zakharov. The volume of the publication is 368 pages. The authors of separate chapters of this study are V.A. Badyra, O.P. Bukalov, A.P. Hel, M.V. Romanov, I.S. Yakovets; Under the general editorship of Ye.Yu. Zakharov. Kharkiv Human Rights Group. – Kharkiv: Prava Liudyny, 2009. – 368 pages.

Prison monitoring training in Feodosia

Problems of organising a permanently operating system of public monitoring in the institutions of the State Criminal-Executive Service of Ukraine were examined at a training session in Feodosia

Mobile Groups in the Ministry of Internal Affairs: Challenges in Ensuring Operational Effectiveness (The Experience of the Donetsk Region and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea)

Despite considerable experience with monitoring visits in many regions of Ukraine, the activities of mobile groups as a form of public oversight do not fully realise the intent of such monitoring, as experience has shown that the regulatory framework governing their work is quite imperfect.

Adaptation: From Prison to Real Life

A roundtable entitled "Socialisation of Persons Returning from Places of Deprivation of Liberty" took place in Luhansk. Employees of penal colonies and prisons learned in more detail about the assistance that state and non-state organisations can provide to those currently incarcerated or already released.

Human Rights Centre 'Memorial' on the murder of Natalya Estemirova

On the evening of 15 July 2009, the Human Rights Centre 'Memorial' released an urgent statement regarding the murder of Natalya Estemirova.

Human rights defender Natalya Estemirova killed

Today, 15 July 2009, around 8:30 AM in Grozny, Natalya Khusainovna Estemirova, an employee of the Human Rights Centre 'Memorial', was abducted.

The penal system is in need of reform

Following an audit of the implementation status of the Programme, the Board of the Accounting Chamber concluded that, due to the ineffective management of the Department during the 2006–2008 period, only one-tenth of the tasks envisaged for this period had been completed.