Information surrounding the “events” at the Kuryazh Educational Colony

As reported earlier, the Vinnytsia Human Rights Group distributed information about the alleged beating of convicts at the Kuryazh Educational Colony of the State Department administration in the Kharkiv region by the staff of this institution.

With the aim of verifying the specified information, the leadership of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments sent representatives of the central apparatus of the State Department to the institution on 12 May 2010.

Jointly with the representatives of the State Department, the verification of the information was carried out by employees of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the Board of Trustees of the Kuryazh Educational Colony, and the Public Council under the Department’s administration in the Kharkiv region. A forensic medical expert of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region was also invited, who carried out an examination of all inmates of the colony.

In the course of the bodily examination, scratches of minor severity were found on the forearms of five convicts.

According to the forensic medical examination acts dated 13 May 2010 of convicts R. M. Prokop (born 1992), S. P. Prylutskyi (born 1992), D. I. Terebynskyi (born 1992), O. O. Troshechko (born 1992), and R. S. Blahin (born 1993), conducted by forensic medical expert V. Ya. Koba, the conclusion was drawn: no objective medical data was established regarding the use of methods of physical influence, namely the use of handcuffs, rubber hose, beatings with hands and feet, or the infliction of chemical burns from rubbing table salt into cuts on the hands, against the aforementioned convicts in the period from 7.04.10 until the time the forensic medical examinations were conducted.

At the same time, during the verification, it was established that on 7 April 2010, at 20:00, five convicts approached the Duty Assistant to the Head of the Colony (hereinafter – DAHC) with signs of scratches on their forearms. Accompanied by the DAHC, the inmates were taken to the institution’s medical unit, where a medical worker provided them with primary emergency aid. After this, the inmates were returned to the sleeping quarters.

The Head of the Kuryazh Educational Colony personally, in the presence of the institution’s staff, carried out a bodily examination, during which no signs of beating were found.

During a personal conversation, the convicts explained that they committed these actions with the aim of avoiding disciplinary liability for a violation they had committed (deliberately breaking glass in the sleeping quarters with the aim of attracting attention to themselves and raising their criminal status among other convicts), apologised, and begged the head of the institution not to publish this information, as it humiliates their dignity before other convicts.

Considering the repentance of the convicts, the head of the institution made the decision to limit the response to conducting a preventive conversation.

Today, 14 May 2010, a press conference for media representatives was held at the Kuryazh Educational Colony, after which journalists had the opportunity to talk with the inmates of the colony.

Reference: at the present time, 152 inmates are serving their sentences in the institution.