The Head of the Department did not appear in court because he was celebrating

In the Donetsk Regional Administrative Court, a hearing previously scheduled for 22 April regarding the lawsuit by Oleksandr Bukalov, head of the human rights organisation “Donetsk Memorial”, against the Head of the Department of the State Penitentiary Service did not take place. The lawsuit concerned an unlawful refusal to provide information.
Careful examination of the data provided by the Department revealed significant discrepancies in the mortality rates in the system’s institutions. To clarify the reasons for the discrepancies in November 2007, the head of “Donetsk Memorial” sent a corresponding request to the Head of the Department, V.V. Koshchynets, to which an extremely “meaningful and comprehensive” response was received stating that the Department, when calculating mortality indicators, “uses methodologies recommended by the Department of Social Hygiene and Healthcare of medical universities”.
Upon a repeated appeal, in which the department’s management was incidentally informed that the failure to provide the requested information violated the requirements of the Constitution of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine “On Information”, the same response was received. This course of events forced O. Bukalov to appeal to the court. By a ruling of the Donetsk District Administrative Court on 27 March, proceedings were opened, and a hearing was scheduled for 22 April.
Only on the day of the hearing did the court receive a telegram notifying that the defendant requested the hearing be postponed, without explaining the reasons. Apparently, celebrating his professional holiday did not allow Mr. Koshchynets to appear in court. The next hearing is scheduled for June 2008.