Official Response of the Department to Accusations of Certain Human Rights Organisations

Recently, unverified information regarding the activities of the State Penal Service of Ukraine has been spread quite frequently in the media. Attention from public and human rights organisations is mainly based on speculation about the violation of the rights of convicts and the closed nature of the system.

The State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishment officially declares: criminal-executive legislation imposes upon us joint obligations regarding the transition of cooperation between bodies and institutions for the execution of punishment with public and religious organisations into the realm of concrete actions within the framework of the law, the main goal of which should be both the person of the convict and the interests of the security of society.
The Department views public and religious organisations precisely as partners in this process and expects that this partnership will be aimed, first and foremost, at the observance of the law during the execution of punishments.

Positive dynamics in expanding the circle of public organisations cooperating with the institutions of the penal service testify to an increase in activity in this sector of civil society. Thus, if in 2005 only 50 citizens' associations were involved in cooperation with penal service institutions, then in 2007 their number increased more than threefold and amounted to 189 associations at regional and all-Ukrainian levels. It is worth noting that the vast majority of these organisations are already working in institutions on a permanent basis. The total number of representatives of public organisations who directly visit penal institutions and work with convicts exceeds 700 people.

Non-governmental organisations also provide assistance to the institutions of the penal service in improving the conditions of detention for convicts and strengthening the material base of educational and cultural-educational institutions operating within the facilities. Thus, during 2007, institutions received charitable aid from them amounting to over 16.7 million UAH, including 758 thousand UAH from religious organisations.

The Department is spreading the practice of involving representatives of public and religious organisations who work in the institutions of the penal service to participate not only in measures for the resocialisation of convicts and their return to society, but also in the activities of the methodological-educational councils of institutions and commissions on the application of legally provided benefits to convicts.

Public control over the observance of the rights and legitimate interests of convicts and persons released from serving a sentence, and assistance to bodies and institutions for the execution of punishment in the correction and resocialisation of convicts, is currently also carried out by 208 supervisory commissions, 10 boards of trustees at special correctional institutions, and public councils formed under all territorial management bodies of the Department.

The Department is grateful to public organisations for the work they carry out directly in the institutions of the penal service. At the same time, it is desirable that their activity be more active in the areas of providing convicts after release with assistance in resolving social-domestic issues and employment.

Understandably, some public organisations, by virtue of their status, react acutely and fundamentally to the imperfection of certain aspects of the legislative and regulatory framework in the sphere of execution of criminal punishments, and to shortcomings in the activities of bodies and institutions for the execution of punishment. The Department believes that the critical position of such organisations should not cross into the realm of carping. Unfortunately, there are many examples where some public institutions were interested only in negative, as a rule, subjective or distorted information for the sake of raising their own authority at the expense of compromising state structures. Furthermore, they deliberately generate misunderstandings between the Department and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine regarding the order of direction and coordination of its activities.

It is precisely the Kharkiv Human Rights Group that has repeatedly insisted on the introduction of unimpeded visits to correctional colonies by human rights activists. However, unprofessional actions of human rights activists can negatively affect the state of the operational situation in institutions, as happened, for example, during the events at the Temnivska Correctional Colony /No. 100/ on 28 March 2008. A representative of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group was admitted to the territory of the institution. Due to the human rights activist's inability to conduct a dialogue with the convicts, three of them inflicted self-harm in his presence.

On 3 February 2008, the Vinnytsia Human Rights Group distributed an urgent message about a hunger strike by convicts at the Litynska Correctional Colony /No. 123/ as a sign of protest against the severity of the administration. A special commission was established to investigate the report, which included representatives from the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights and the regional prosecutor's office. None of the facts were confirmed.

Among human rights organisations, there are also those created by parents to "support" their children in places of detention. They are not interested in other convicts at all. It is precisely such an organisation that is the parents' committee "Rescue" (Poryatunok), which takes care exclusively of its own relatives — those sentenced to life imprisonment.

The activity of the human rights organisation "Donetsk Memorial" consists of collecting statistical data from the bodies of the State Penal Service of Ukraine. Invitations from the management of the Department to visit any penal institution and familiarise themselves with the real situation in them are ignored by the representatives of the aforementioned organisation.

Some "human rights activists" themselves resort to committing illegal acts.

Thus, on 29 February 2008, four citizens detained by the internal affairs bodies of the Vinnytsia region on charges of committing a crime provided for by Article 307, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine were delivered to the Vinnytsia Institution for the Execution of Punishment (No. 1). The commission of acts provided for by this article is qualified as "illegal production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation or mailing of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues without the purpose of sale", and Part 2 – these acts committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy by a group of persons. It was precisely such acts that the detained persons resorted to, one of whom turned out to be... the head of the public human rights organisation "Step Towards" (Krok na zustrich), who, moreover, had a prior conviction. Into their criminal activity, this human rights activist drew convicts who had just been released.

In view of the above, a rhetorical question arises regarding the objectivity and impartiality of the information presented to the media and society by such public organisations.

Despite the significant achievements of the penal service in ensuring interaction with civil society institutions, unfortunately, accusations of the department being closed continue to be voiced, which, in individual cases, aims to aggravate the situation around the Department and form a negative public opinion about its activities.

If the system is closed, then where do the numerous reports from places of detention come from, which are shown on television, published in the press, and appear on the pages of internet publications almost every day?

In particular, during 2007, almost 2,000 materials on the activities of the State Penal Service of Ukraine were covered in the central media. For comparison: in 2006 there were 500 such materials. As of 25 June 2008, 1,040 materials had already been covered in the media.

Since the beginning of the year, over 130 requests from media representatives for information, preparation of television features, reports, programmes, interviews, etc., have been considered. Of these, 110 requests concerned visits by media representatives to penal institutions, 81 of which were satisfied in accordance with the terms established by the Law of Ukraine "On Information", with the exception of cases provided for by current legislation and international norms regarding the assurance of the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens, namely: all information regarding the private life of convicts is confidential, and interviews and video filming are conducted only with their personal consent.

On 28 March of this year, an expanded meeting of the Department's board took place, where, along with others, the issue of the state of interaction between bodies and institutions for the execution of punishment with the media, religious, international, and public organisations was considered.

On 3 June 2008, the Department organised an off-site press conference on the occasion of Ukraine's Journalist Day at the base of the Cherkasy Correctional Colony /No. 62/.

On 17-18 June of this year, an off-site meeting of the Department's board took place in Ternopil regarding the cooperation of the Department with the Ukrainian Interconfessional Christian Mission "Spiritual and Charitable Care in Places of Confinement", and other state and public organisations on issues of ensuring the constitutional rights of convicts, their spiritual enlightenment, and social adaptation after release.
Throughout the year, public discussion of the draft Concept of the Complex Targeted Programme for Reforming the State Penal Service of Ukraine for 2008-2017 has been ongoing. Two round-table meetings took place, the last one on 24 June 2008, discussing, in particular, the draft Complex Targeted Programme for Reforming the State Penal Service of Ukraine for 2008-2017. Respected public figures and state institutions took part in the intense legislative work. The Department officially expressed its readiness to cooperate with all interested parties. However, the Department did not receive any proposal of their vision, nor any alternative to the specified Concept from human rights activists Bukalov, Zakharov, or Hroisman.

Regarding the procedure for visiting penal institutions, it is clearly defined by Article 24 of the Law of Ukraine "On the State Penal Service of Ukraine".

By the way, in no country in the world are penal institutions open for free visiting by outsiders, which include representatives of the public and the media.

The Department emphasises that any information about the activities of the State Penal Service of Ukraine must be objective and verified, as not all human rights activists are concerned with its real problems.