Stryzhavka Penal Colony filed a lawsuit against the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group

Leninsky District Court of Vinnitsa
CLAIMANT: Stryzhavka Penal Colony of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Criminal Punishments in Vinnitsa Oblast (No. 81)
Stryzhavka, Alei St., 30, Vinnitsa District, Vinnitsa Oblast, postal code 23210
Defendant: Municipal Public Organisation Vinnitsa Human Rights Group
Leader Dmytro Leonidovych Hroisman, Stakhurskoho St., 72, apt. 57, Vinnitsa, postal code 21050
STATEMENT OF CLAIM regarding the protection of honour, dignity, and business reputation of a legal entity
On the website 'Radio Liberty' http://www.orig.radiosvoboda.org, on 26.05.2008, under the headline 'Coordinator of the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group Dmytro Hroisman received serious injuries', information of the following content was disseminated: 'The most probable version is that the attack is connected with the human rights activity of the victim, reports the press service of the Commissioner for Human Rights. According to information from the press service of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights, the attack was carried out on the night before Saturday in the entrance of the house in Vinnitsa where the human rights activist lives. Currently, the victim is in intensive care with a traumatic brain injury. The attackers, as evidence received by the ombudsman shows, were waiting specifically for Hroisman when he returned home. This makes the version that the attack is connected with the victim's human rights activity the most probable, reports the press service.'
In the '33 Channel' newspaper dated 11.06.2008, No. 25, on page 2, in the article 'Another prisoner hanged himself in the Stryzhavka colony', Dmytro Hroisman stated in his interview: 'When I was asked who I suspect of committing the attack on me, I stated that I can suspect individuals who are connected with the management of the execution of punishments in Vinnitsa Oblast'.
The written accusations that the attack on D.L. Hroisman was committed by employees connected with the management of the execution of punishments in Vinnitsa Oblast are groundless, far-fetched, and have no confirmation. Such a statement undermines the authority and business reputation of the entire penal system and the Stryzhavka Penal Colony No. 81 in particular.
In a press release signed by the coordinator of the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group, D. Hroisman, spread by the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group on 09.06.2008 under the headline 'REPORTS OF MALTREATMENT OF PRISONERS CONTINUE TO ARRIVE MASSIVELY FROM THE UKRAINIAN GULAG', the following information is stated: 'The Vinnitsa Human Rights Group continues to receive information about the torture and humiliation that prisoners of the Ukrainian GULAG system – the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Criminal Punishments – are subjected to.
Last week we reported on two cases of suicide that took place in Stryzhavka PC No. 81 (Vinnitsa Oblast); in total, over the last ten days, four prisoners have taken their own lives in Ukraine.
Over the last day, the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group received information about mass beatings of prisoners in Stryzhavka PC No. 81 and in Temnivska PC No. 100 (Kharkiv Oblast). Thus, in accordance with information at the disposal of the VPH, on 7-8 June, employees of Stryzhavka PC No. 81 brutally beat the following prisoners: V.A. Hudzynsky, D.A. Tselovalnykov, A.A. Motok – there are traces of beatings on the bodies of the indicated prisoners, therefore the colony administration is doing everything possible to prevent the press and human rights activists from meeting with them. The reason for the beating – the prisoners' disagreement with the brutal humiliation of human dignity by the colony administration and the warning from the prisoners that they would resort to peaceful protest actions against the humiliation of human dignity.
We emphasise that, recently, the arrival of information about brutal violations of the rights of prisoners has acquired a mass and regular character. The leadership of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Criminal Punishments does not fulfil its assigned functions of ensuring compliance with human rights towards prisoners, including freedom from torture and cruel treatment.
We ask the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ms N.I. Karpachova, to visit PC No. 100 and PC No. 81, to meet with the prisoners indicated in this report; we demand from the Government of Ukraine to immediately consider the issue of the situation in the institutions of the criminal punishment system and the responsibility of the leadership of the SD ECP.
We ask media representatives to demand the opportunity to visit the indicated colonies and meet with the prisoners.'
According to the logs of the use of physical force and special means against prisoners, physical force and special means were not applied to prisoners V.V. Hudzynsky, D.A. Tselovalnykov, and O.O. Motok during their period of serving their sentences in the Stryzhavka Penal Colony (No. 81).
In handwritten explanations, prisoners V.V. Hudzynsky, D.A. Tselovalnykov, O.O. Motok, as well as other prisoners of the Stryzhavka Penal Colony (No. 81), indicated that special means, physical force, or any humiliation of human dignity were not applied to them by the administration of the institution. The prisoners are completely satisfied with the living conditions and food.
The written accusations regarding the Stryzhavka Penal Colony No. 81 about the mass beating of prisoners are groundless, far-fetched, and have no confirmation. Such a statement undermines the authority and business reputation of the entire penal system and the Stryzhavka Penal Colony No. 81 in particular.

In a press release of the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group dated 20.06.2008, an article was spread under the headline 'TORTURE IN UKRAINIAN
PRISONS: REPORTS CONTINUE TO ARRIVE' of the following content (presented in full, in the original language):
Since the beginning of June of this year, two prisoners of PC No. 81, which is in the Vinnitsa region, have committed suicide. The administration of the penal system confirmed the fact of the emergency event only after the information about the suicides was made public by the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group. The deceased were buried in the territory of the prison cemetery; the public was not informed about the results of the investigation into the circumstances and reasons that could have contributed to the suicides.
On 19 June, the Vinnitsa Human Rights Group received information about another emergency event at PC No. 81. This time we were informed that, protesting against the inhuman attitude of the PC No. 81 administration, prisoners Serhii Shevchenko and Denys Ivanyshyn committed acts of self-mutilation, inflicting cut wounds on themselves. Acts of self-mutilation, according to information that reached the VPH, were preceded by the beating of the indicated prisoners by colony employees. Currently, prisoners Shevchenko and Ivanyshyn are kept in a high-security section; medical assistance is not provided to them in full volume.
In a situation where the penitentiary system remains closed to public control, where effective representation of the interests of prisoners in challenging illegal actions of the administration of penitentiary institutions in court is impossible, it is impossible to carry out an independent, objective verification of reports of violations of the rights of prisoners arriving from colonies, prisons, and SIZOs of Ukraine. There is still no information about the results of the complaints of prisoners Marharyt and Karpenko, who reported physical violence by the administration earlier this month.
The Vinnitsa Human Rights Group believes that two cases of suicide within one month at PC No. 81 and regular reports about the use of physical violence and humiliation of human dignity towards prisoners in the indicated colony should become a basis for verification by a commission impartial and independent from the leadership of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Criminal Punishments, in the work of which it is necessary to include representatives of human rights public organisations, giving the members of the commission the opportunity to hold a meeting with the prisoners without the presence of colony administration representatives so that the possible facts of violations of prisoners' rights can be properly documented without the threat of subsequent reprisals against the complainants. We have sent an appeal to the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine O.V. Turchynov with a demand to immediately send a government commission to PC No. 81, involving media representatives and human rights organisations, to verify reports about gross and systematic violations of prisoners' rights, humiliation of their human dignity, and the use of illegal violence against them.
On 20 June 2008, the leader of the municipal public organisation Vinnitsa Human Rights Group, Dmytro Leonidovych Hroisman, sent an article to the Government Agent for the European Court of Human Rights.
During the polling of the indicated individuals, it was established that on 19.06.2008 physical force and special means were not applied to them, they did not inflict bodily injuries on themselves. The given prisoners were not transferred from resocialisation sections to the high-security section.
It was also established that they did not submit complaints about the administration's actions, did not and do not have conflicts among the prisoners, are characterised positively, and have a number of incentives. The given facts are also confirmed by the explanations of other prisoners of the institution.
On this matter, the duty assistant to the head of the institution, Captain of the Internal Service A.A. Kostiuk, who was on duty at the institution from 19.06.2008 to 20.06.2008, was also questioned; the given employee noted that during the time of duty at the institution, no emergency events occurred, special means and physical force were not applied to the prisoners, individuals with cut-stab wounds were not identified and were not delivered to the medical unit.
On 23.06.2008, in the office of the head of the institution, in the presence of the Head of the Public Council under the UDECP of Ukraine in Vinnitsa Oblast, a bodily inspection of prisoners Shevchenko S.V., Ivanchyshyn D.S., Ivanishyn V.M., Marharyt D.O., and Karpenko S.V. was carried out for the subject of bodily injuries, haematomas, abrasions, and haemorrhages. As a result of the inspection, no bodily injuries were revealed, for which corresponding acts were drawn up.
Violations of legislation or personal rights and freedoms of prisoners were not established.
The written accusations regarding the Stryzhavka Penal Colony No. 81 about mutilations are far-fetched and have no confirmation. Such a statement undermines the authority and business reputation of the entire penal system and the Stryzhavka Penal Colony No. 81 in particular.

The facts cited in the articles do not correspond to reality and humiliate the business reputation of the legal entity Stryzhavka Penal Colony No. 81 and the entire personnel of the institution. The spreading of false rumours also creates a tense atmosphere among the prisoners, who, from such publications, remain in an aggressive state, which could lead to mass disorder and violations of public order, unforeseen consequences of bloodshed, and mass victims. This disgraces and undermines the authority of the State of Ukraine.
The author groundlessly accuses the personnel of the institution of carrying out activities that contradict the requirements of current legislation and the interests of society. In order to assert the existence of any facts, it is necessary to have legal grounds for this, which are confirmed by corresponding documents or other legally obtained evidence.
By his illegal actions – the spreading of information that does not correspond to reality – the defendant humiliated the business reputation of the management, the institution, and the entire system as a whole.
Business reputation consists of qualities and evaluations with which its bearer is associated in the eyes of its counterparties, clients, and the population. By his actions regarding the spreading of false information, a decrease in prestige and an undermining of trust in the penal system have been caused.
In accordance with Art. 94 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, a legal entity has the right to the inviolability of its business reputation, to the secrecy of correspondence, to information, and to other personal non-property rights that can belong to it. According to Art. 16 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, every person has the right to apply to the court for the protection of a personal non-property or property right and interest and compensation for moral (non-property) damage with money, other property, or in another way. Furthermore, such a right is granted to us by the laws of Ukraine 'On Information' (Art. 48), 'On Printed Mass Media (Press) in Ukraine' (Art. 37).
We estimate the moral damage that the defendant caused to our department, the penal system of Ukraine as a whole, and the Stryzhavka Penal Institution No. 81 in particular, which is expressed in the inaccuracy of the information, which created tension among the personnel, moral and psychological burdens, both among the prisoners and the personnel, who are forced to serve in a constantly reinforced mode, at 100,000 (one hundred) thousand hryvnias.
On the basis of the above-stated, in accordance with Part 4 of Art. 32 of the Constitution of Ukraine, Articles 16, 94 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, Articles 47, 48 of the Law of Ukraine 'On Information', Art. 37 of the Law of Ukraine 'On Printed Mass Media (Press) in Ukraine', guided by Articles 3, 15, 118-120 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine,

I REQUEST:
1. Oblige the leader of the municipal public organisation Vinnitsa Human Rights Group, Dmytro Leonidovych Hroisman, to publish a refutation of the information spread in the articles regarding the Stryzhavka Penal Colony No. 81 and the management of the SD ECP of Ukraine in Vinnitsa Oblast.

2. Collect from the author of the articles, D.L. Hroisman, 100,000 (one hundred) thousand [UAH] in moral damages.

3. Place court expenses on the defendant.

Appendices:
1. Payment orders:
- Payment order No. 1042 dated 25 June 2008 for information and technical support in the amount of 30 UAH;
- Payment order for the payment of state duty No. 1041 dated 25 June 2008 in the amount of 5,000.00 UAH.
2. Letter of the European Court of Human Rights No. 33-31/2060 dated 23.06.2008.
3. Texts of the refutation on 3 sheets.
4. Certificate of the Main Directorate of Statistics in Vinnitsa Oblast on the state registration of the LLC 'Human Rights Group' No. 13/4/1429 dated 24.06.2008.

5. Copies of the claim demands in two copies

Head of the Stryzhavka Penal Colony of the UDECP of Ukraine in Vinnitsa Oblast M.R. Mahovayev