Wanted to Serve After 22 Years of Imprisonment
During the liberation of Kherson, a life-sentenced prisoner found himself free and, under fire, set off to join the ranks of the 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade, where his brother serves.
Labour Behind Bars: MPs Propose to Change the Rules
Will the bill change the widespread practice of disenfranchisement? We discuss this with KHPG programme coordinator Andriy Didenko.
A Person with a Traumatic Brain Injury is Being Treated for... Bronchitis
During a monitoring visit to the notorious Sofiyivka Hospital No. 45, where medical care is supposed to be provided to prisoners from across the country, human rights defenders found a man with a dent in his temple. Local ‘specialists’ are treating his bronchi. The man can no longer speak and is simply dying.
To See His Mother and Surrender Back to Life Imprisonment
The subject of our report found himself at the mercy of the occupiers in Kherson. Despite beatings and abuse, he refused to cooperate with the Russians. Against the backdrop of the Ukrainian army’s offensive, he gained his freedom for the first time in 15 years, but decided he would surrender to the authorities after fulfilling one condition.
Another Assault on Human Rights: Civil Society May Be Excluded from Monitoring Places of Detention
The Ministry of Justice is proposing a bill that will restrict the access of human rights defenders to penitentiary institutions. The most serious human rights violations in these places are typically uncovered during unannounced monitoring visits, specifically by assistants to Members of Parliament, journalists, and doctors.
Another assault on human rights: civil society may be barred from monitoring places of detention
The Ministry of Justice is proposing a bill that would limit the access of human rights defenders to penitentiary institutions. Major human rights violations in these places are usually exposed during unannounced monitoring visits by assistants to People's Deputies, journalists, and doctors.
In 18 Correctional Institutions, Convicts Did Not Contact the Ombudsman Once Over a Year and a Half
In 12 institutions, not only has there not been a single sealed appeal addressed to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, but also none to the prosecutor’s office or human rights defenders. We suspect this is not because the convicts have nothing to complain about.
The Struggle for Yaroslav Mysiak’s Freedom
Yaroslav Mysiak is a pastor sentenced to death by firing squad for a crime committed by someone else. He has been serving a life sentence for over 20 years. Apart from confessions extracted under the threat of violence against his wife and two-year-old daughter, the case materials contain no evidence of his guilt.
Release from Serving a Sentence Due to Severe Illness – A Systemic Issue Requiring a Solution
Release from serving a sentence due to severe illness is a procedure designed to secure a convict’s right to proper medical treatment and the opportunity to preserve their own life. The List of Illnesses serving as grounds for release from further serving of a sentence, approved by Joint Order No. 1348/5/572 of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine dated 15 August 2014, includes the most severe forms of diseases that are no longer treatable and for which the medical prognosis is unfavourable.
‘They Simply Killed Him’ – Vitaliy Matukhno, a Cancer Patient, Has Died in a Prison Hospital
‘Vitaliy was killed knowingly and intentionally, because to them a human being is mere rubbish,’ says human rights defender Andriy Didenko, telling the story of a life-sentenced prisoner who should have been released on medical grounds but was left to die behind bars.
A Licence to Kill: Khmelnytskyi Acquits Colony Staff Accused of a Prisoner’s Death
By a verdict of the Khmelnytskyi City District Court of Khmelnytskyi Region dated 12 December 2022 (case No. 686/13590/16-k), two employees of Zamkova Correctional Colony (No. 58) were acquitted. They had been accused of beating a prisoner to death several years ago. Ninety-five pieces of evidence in the case were ruled inadmissible.