News Flash
Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee publishes report on
Ukraine
Strasbourg, 20.06.2007 – The Council of Europe's Committee for the prevention
of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (CPT) has published
today the report on its visit to Ukraine in
2005, together with the response of the
Ukrainian Government. These documents have been made public at the request of
the Ukrainian authorities.
The 2005 visit revealed a slight reduction as regards the scale of the
phenomenon of ill-treatment. Nevertheless, the report concludes that persons
detained by the police continue to run a significant risk of being subject to
ill-treatment, in particular during the phase of initial questioning by
operational officers. The CPT has recommended that a clear message of “zero
tolerance” of torture and other forms of ill-treatment be delivered from the
highest level and at regular intervals to all Internal Affairs staff. Other
recommendations made in the report aim at strengthening the fundamental
safeguards against ill-treatment (in particular, the rights of notification of
custody, access to a lawyer and access to a doctor). The CPT has also called
upon the Ukrainian authorities to put an end to the practice of holding persons
in district police stations for periods exceeding a few hours.
Particular attention was paid during the visit to the situation of foreign
nationals detained under aliens legislation. A significant number of them
complained about ill-treatment by Border Guard staff. Conditions at the Pavshino
Temporary Holding Centre for men were so inadequate that the CPT’s delegation
had requested its closure and the setting up of new facilities. In their
response, the Ukrainian authorities indicate that two new holding centres for
foreign nationals are being built in the Volyn and Chernigiv regions; in the
meantime, steps are being taken to improve conditions of detention at the
Pavshino Centre.
No allegations of recent physical ill-treatment of prisoners by staff were
heard, except at Colony No.100 for men in Temnivka (Kharkiv region), where a
number of inmates alleged having been beaten when transferred to the
disciplinary and isolation section. Material conditions of detention in Colony
No. 65 for women in Bozhkivske (Poltava region) and Colony No. 100 were the best
ever seen by a CPT delegation in Ukraine. However, at Colony No. 65, the
delegation observed a general state of physical and mental exhaustion among the
women, as a result of the work-rate imposed upon them.
During the 2005 visit, close attention was also given to the situation of
prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment. No improvements were observed as
regards the treatment of life-sentenced men, despite previous recommendations by
the CPT. The Committee has called upon the Ukrainian authorities to take a
number of steps in this area, including to stop the systematic handcuffing of
such prisoners when taken out of the cells and to increase substantially their
entitlement to visits.
The CPT's visit report and the
response of the Ukrainian authorities are
available on the Committee's website (http://www.cpt.coe.int).
- A "CPT Video-kit" is available for the audiovisual press. For more details
please access our page "For the press".
