Emergency at the 96th Colony

According to unconfirmed reports, disturbing events have taken place at the Horodyshche Correctional Colony No. 96 (address: 35341, v. Horodyshche, Rivne district, Rivne region, tel. (036) 220-71-88).
Convict K.S. (the surname is held by the editorial board of the Prison Portal) announced a hunger strike and held it for 8 days. The likely reason was refusal to work due to poor health. He was beaten and placed in a block where those serving life sentences are held. In connection with such treatment of the convict, an appeal was received by human rights activists from the acting head of the Department for the Execution of Sentences, Iltyay, with a request to take urgent measures to resolve the situation with convict K.S.
As a result of this appeal, according to unverified reports, a number of convicts were suddenly taken out of the 96th colony at the end of the day on 27 May. Among the convicts taken out of the colony were B.S., S.A., L.S., S.A., and likely the hunger striker K.S. himself (all surnames are known to the portal’s editorial board).
After this, early in the morning on 28 May, special forces were allegedly brought into the colony and beat the convicts. Some of them, in protest against such treatment, inflicted injuries upon themselves.
If these events are confirmed, it will become yet further evidence that the Department for the Execution of Sentences is grossly violating human rights, does not wish to respond constructively to reports from human rights activists about human rights violations, and subjects those who dare to complain about the actions of the staff of penal institutions to beatings and cruel treatment.
The human rights organisation ‘Donetsk Memorial’ has been proposing for over two years that the department develop an algorithm for an immediate reaction to information about violations of prisoners’ rights. The department refuses to cooperate on this issue, apparently unwilling to abandon the only reaction its employees are capable of under the current leadership – to brutally suppress any attempts by convicts to complain about their poor treatment.