‘The detention of the Oleksiyivska Penal Colony leadership is nothing short of a miracle’
The State Bureau of Investigation has detained the leadership of Oleksiyivska Penal Colony No. 25 on suspicion of forcing convicts to perform unpaid labour through blackmail, threats, and humiliation. This is the second such case in six years: in 2020, following an incident involving the beating of prisoners, the administration avoided liability, and the investigation failed to find any elements of a crime in their actions.
At that time, the institution’s leadership accused human rights activists of ‘destabilising the situation’, blocked the work of lawyers, and initiated proceedings against them. The Ministry of Justice also denied the facts of systemic torture, despite reports from the European Committee. In effect, the slave labour of convicts had for years been the economic foundation of corruption, allowing the colony’s administration to ‘resolve’ issues with law enforcement agencies.
The current detention is a rare occurrence, as officials have previously always emerged ‘scot-free’. Given the experience of the Berdyansk Penal Colony No. 77 case, where the guilty have yet to be punished, there are doubts regarding the fairness of the judicial process. Nevertheless, society expects a lawful verdict for those who, instead of correcting convicts, committed serious crimes themselves and brought shame upon their profession.