Justice, Chernihiv-style

On 28 October 2011, Hanna Mykolaivna Pozharska was released from the Naderzhynshchyna Correctional Colony No. 65 in the Poltava region. She had spent almost 9 years in places of deprivation of liberty. There were no funds in her personal account, and the “Received upon release” section in her release certificate was marked with a dash. The administration of the Naderzhynshchyna Correctional Colony provided Pozharska H.M. only with funds for a ticket to her chosen place of residence – the city of Chernihiv. Effective measures for her employment and household settlement were not taken by the colony staff. Furthermore, when preparing for her release, the administration of this correctional facility did not assist the convict, Pozharska H.M., in obtaining a passport (Clause 4, Article 153 of the Criminal-Executive Code of Ukraine).
After arriving in Chernihiv, Pozharska H.M. turned to the charitable organisation “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre” with a request for help in finding employment, housing, and obtaining a passport.
Restoring the passport took a long time because a duplicate birth certificate was required. And since Pozharska H.M. did not have a Ukrainian passport, she could not obtain a birth certificate from the civil registry offices. At the time of the declaration of Ukraine’s independence and the adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Citizenship”, Pozharska H.M. was serving a sentence in a correctional colony in the city of Novozybkov, Bryansk region, Russian Federation. Moreover, upon checking the fact of Pozharska H.M.’s birth registration, it turned out that there was no record of her birth in the archives under this surname in the village of Chervone, Yahotyn district, Kyiv region.
After the lawyers from the charitable organisation travelled to Yahotyn, with the assistance of the Yahotyn District Police Department, it was established that her birth was registered under the surname Shekera, not Pozharska. For unknown reasons, she had somehow received her first passport under the surname Pozharska from the passport office of the Yahotyn District Police Department. With the assistance of the charitable organisation’s lawyers, it was established that Shekera H.M. and Pozharska H.M. are one and the same person.
Despite the fact that Pozharska H.M. had been held criminally liable four times and her identity had been established on each occasion, no one had paid attention to the fact that she should have held a passport under the surname Shekera.
The staff of the “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre” spent more than 4 months restoring Pozharska H.M.’s passport. This was achieved despite active and effective assistance from internal affairs personnel.
During the passport restoration period, Pozharska H.M. was housed in the Chernihiv Centre for Social Adaptation for the Homeless and Destitute. While staying at the centre, she systematically violated residency rules, consumed alcohol, and created conflict situations among the centre’s residents, for which the director of the centre, M.M. Romanov, revoked her right to reside there.
Having thought of nothing better, Pozharska H.M. consumed alcohol and, in that state, went to the police, to a public order station. Instead of conducting a complex of individual preventative measures with Pozharska and, together with non-governmental organisations that handle the problems of released individuals, assisting her in finding housing, the police officers found another option. According to Pozharska H.M., they forced her to take the blame for six unsolved thefts. They forced her to write a confession, to admit that she had stolen three mobile phones from different people in different parts of Chernihiv, one of which cost 6,500 hryvnias, two bicycles, and even 20 tulips and 213 crocuses from a flowerbed on the Alley of Heroes along Peace Avenue, which belonged to the communal enterprise “Zelenbud” of the Chernihiv City Council. Another criminal case was opened for the illegal purchase and possession of narcotic drugs without the intent to sell.
On 21 April 2012, Pozharska H.M. was placed in a temporary detention facility. The court applied a pre-trial restriction measure—custody—and she was transferred to the Chernihiv Pre-trial Detention Centre. It was there that Pozharska H.M. received her long-awaited passport of a citizen of Ukraine.
Realising what she had done and that she was “facing” up to 7 years in prison, Pozharska H.M. again appealed with a written statement to the charitable organisation “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre” for legal assistance. In the statement, she reported that she had not committed the thefts, had not purchased or possessed narcotic drugs, and that the police officers had forced her to take the blame by using force and inflicting bodily injuries on her. After the beating, her health deteriorated sharply.
Upon receiving the appeal from Pozharska H.M., members of the “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre” appealed to the regional and General Prosecutor’s Office, and to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Chernihiv region, with a request to intervene in this case, investigate it, and make appropriate decisions.
On 24 May 2012, the Chernihiv City Prosecutor’s Office sent a response stating that, based on an investigation into the unlawful actions of police officers, a resolution had been issued to refuse the initiation of a criminal case under Clause 2 of Article 6 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Chernihiv region responded that the materials of the internal investigation had been sent to the Prosecutor’s Office for a legal assessment of the police officers’ actions and a decision in accordance with Article 97 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
The Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre was forced to appeal to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, V.V. Lutkovska.
On 12 June 2012, her representatives met with Pozharska H.M., examined the available official and medical documentation regarding her health status, studied the circumstances under which she received bodily injuries, and appealed to the Prosecutor of the Chernihiv region, S.S. Miroshnychenko, regarding the verification of the legality of the detention and custody of Pozharska H.M., the bringing of criminal charges against her, the circumstances of the infliction of bodily injuries by police officers, and the legality of the decisions made by the Chernihiv City Prosecutor’s Office.
The Prosecutor’s Office conducted another review, after which it turned out that during the pre-trial investigation into the thefts, apart from the confession, no evidence of Pozharska H.M.’s involvement in these crimes had been collected. The case was closed on 13 June 2012 due to insufficient evidence of the accused Pozharska H.M.’s involvement in the commission of a crime under Part 2 of Article 185 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely theft. The investigator was reprimanded for the incomplete investigation of this criminal case. However, Pozharska H.M. continued to be held in custody in the Chernihiv Pre-trial Detention Centre because the episode concerning the illegal purchase and possession of narcotic drugs without intent to sell remained. The investigator of the Investigation Department of the Chernihiv City Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, in whose proceedings this case was held, prepared an indictment and transferred the case to the court.
Several court sessions were held on this case. Members of the “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre”, the supervisory commission, and, at some, media representatives were present at all court sessions.
During the judicial investigation, gross violations of Ukraine’s procedural legislation were revealed: police officers were involved as attesting witnesses; neither Pozharska H.M. nor the attesting witnesses had their rights explained to them during the seizure of the narcotic substance; the seized narcotic substance was not packaged and sealed, among other violations.
During the judicial investigation, the prosecutor was changed three times. The attesting witnesses and police officers who participated in the detention of Pozharska H.M. and the seizure of the narcotic substance from her gave such contradictory testimony during the judicial investigation that all those present in the courtroom were left with the impression that the case materials were fabricated. Everyone hoped that Pozharska would be acquitted in the court session.
However, on 26 July 2012, judge I. Murashko issued a court decision under which Pozharska H.M. was found guilty of committing a crime provided for by Part 1 of Article 309 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal purchase and possession of narcotic drugs without intent to sell) and was sentenced to three months and 5 days of arrest. The court counted the time Pozharska H.M. spent in the temporary detention facility and the pre-trial detention centre from 21 April to 26 July 2012 towards her sentence and released her from custody in the courtroom in connection with the completion of the sentence imposed by the court.
Since in the democratic state of Ukraine, the issuing of an acquittal is a huge rarity, the court decided to release Pozharska H.M. from the courtroom. Such a decision satisfied the police officers, the Prosecutor’s Office, the court, and Pozharska H.M. herself, who did not even believe that this had happened to her.
However, staff at the human rights organisation are disappointed that a citizen who was not involved in the purchase and possession of narcotic drugs was found guilty and illegally held in isolation for more than three months. They are effectively unable to do anything about such a court decision, as they were not participants in the criminal process and cannot appeal the court’s decision to the appellate instance, and Pozharska H.M. herself has categorically refused to do so.
At present, with the assistance of the “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre”, Pozharska H.M. is registered and living in one of the cities of the Chernihiv region.