The Government has appointed Halinskyi as Head of the Department for the Execution of Sentences

After dialogue with public human rights organisations, the government settled on the candidacy of Oleksandr HALINSKYI

The State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences has a new head

By an order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on 12 August, Vasyl KOSHYNETS was dismissed from the position of Head of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences

New publications: Problems of ensuring the rights of convicts in the penal system of Ukraine

The 'Prava Liudyny' ['Human Rights'] publishing house has released a scientific publication by the Kharkiv Human Rights Group, 'Problems of ensuring the rights of convicts in the penal system of Ukraine', under the general editorship of Yevhen Zakharov. The volume of the publication is 368 pages. The authors of separate chapters of this study are V.A. Badyra, O.P. Bukalov, A.P. Hel, M.V. Romanov, I.S. Yakovets; Under the general editorship of Ye.Yu. Zakharov. Kharkiv Human Rights Group. – Kharkiv: Prava Liudyny, 2009. – 368 pages.

Human Rights Centre 'Memorial' on the murder of Natalya Estemirova

On the evening of 15 July 2009, the Human Rights Centre 'Memorial' released an urgent statement regarding the murder of Natalya Estemirova.

Human rights defender Natalya Estemirova killed

Today, 15 July 2009, around 8:30 AM in Grozny, Natalya Khusainovna Estemirova, an employee of the Human Rights Centre 'Memorial', was abducted.

The penal system is in need of reform

Following an audit of the implementation status of the Programme, the Board of the Accounting Chamber concluded that, due to the ineffective management of the Department during the 2006–2008 period, only one-tenth of the tasks envisaged for this period had been completed.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, a prison employee himself became an inmate because of cannabis

The Zaporizhzhia District Court sentenced an employee of the Bilenkivska correctional colony to 5 years and 3 months of imprisonment.

Free legal aid for convicts

From the experience of cooperation between the charitable organisation “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre”, the supervisory commission, executive authorities, and local self-government bodies on the provision of free legal aid to convicts and released persons

Act of disobedience in a correctional colony

84 convicts have announced an indefinite hunger strike in protest against the overly harsh regime and conditions of detention, and inhumane treatment by the administration. Appeal to the public.

A wave of violence is spreading in correctional colonies

STATEMENT by the human rights organisation “Donetsk Memorial” regarding unjustified violence against convicts in penal institutions

Incitement to suicide in Zhytomyr Correctional Colony No. 4

Unable to withstand the abuse by the colony’s operative, convict Kh. attempted suicide.

Unrest occurred in the Nizhny Tagil colony

The Centre for Prisoner Support, citing the relatives of convicts, reported unrest in the Nizhny Tagil maximum-security colony USh 349/12.