today 19.06.2013 11:28
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Human Rights in Ukraine Information website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |
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Ivan Nechiporuk spent almost 8 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. The only evidence against him was 5 “confessions” which the European Court of Human Rights found to have been beaten out of him through the use of torture 
With Ukraine’s judges largely cowered or enticed into line, an offensive has been underway for the past 8 months against the country’s advocates. The weapons deployed are increasingly reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984, and appear to be targeting all vestiges of freedom of speech and independence of views. 
Terrorist bombs are always aimed at showing the public that nobody is safe from attack. The case of Dmitry Reva is in danger of showing Ukrainians how easy it is to end up in prison as a result. 
On 27 May the European Court of Human Rights rejected Ukraine’s appeal against the judgment issued in the case of Volkov v. Ukraine. Ukraine must reinstate Volkov to his position as Supreme Court judge 
On Tuesday, 28 May, a Dnipropetrovsk court rejected the eighth application to release Dmitry Reva from custody, despite his having been held in SIZO for one year on falsified evidence and on charges which quite simply lack any element of a crime. 
When all you hear from politicians is how they’re defending Ukraine from fascists, perverts, migrants, etc, the photographs of assaulted journalists, peaceful protesters put such defence in its right perceptive. When the country is claiming to protect us from terrorists, and the court asks minimal questions, the public badly need journalists willing to ask them 
There are a lot of questions unanswered regarding the trial of four men over bomb blasts just before Euro 2012, however the case of Dmitry Reva is extraordinary even by Ukrainian standards. There is no motive, no proof and the impugned offence involves behaviour which would have been manifestly pointless 
While humorous, the definitions here of court, justice, the role of judge, prosecutor and others unfortunately describe the situation in Ukraine depressingly well. 
Ukrainian advocates have become the latest targets in a concentrated drive over the last three years to create a malleable and dependent judiciary. The measures being applied to remove dissident voices and intimidate others bear stark resemblance to those which have already succeeded in Belarus 
Nigerian student Olaolu Femi learned to his cost about the strange ways of Ukraine’s law enforcement and justice system. His present difficulties in reinstating himself at the Luhansk University are minor in comparison, but also disturbingly catch-22 like. 
They warn that similar events took place in Belarus in 2011 with these leading to the effective dissolution of an independent bar in the country 
In Ukraine’s judicial system an acquittal is seen as an extraordinary event which could cause the judge problems, while handing doen convictions is seen as carrying out their duties 
The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union has issued a statement expressing concern over recent events concerning the Ukrainian Bar. 
After a major campaign by some human rights groups, Olaolu Femi has been released from SIZO [detention centre] with the Foundation for Regional Initiatives formally acting as guarantor. The battle is by no means over, but this is still a major achievement. 
Maria Kaminska has manged to get a criminal case terminated by demonstrating, among other things, grave procedural norms during the period where her client had a confession beaten out of him 
Police divisions in the Donetsk oblast from 7-15 August signed agreements with the winners of tenders for electronic equipment costing 12,96 million UAH 
Ludmila Nikitkina, Deputy Head of the United Opposition’s Pervomaisk Election Headquarters has been in custody since July 2012 with the charges and other circumstances raising serious questions 
After ignoring the total lack of evidence and sentencing three young men to 14 and 15 years imprisonment over the 2010 Zaporizhya Church bomb, Judge Minasov has gone on holiday without providing a copy of the judgement 
EU High Representative, Catherine Ashton, and Commissioner Stefan Füle have expressed their regret over the rejection of former Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko’s cassation appeal and reiterate concern over the trial which did not respect international standards 
Despite no evidence aside from multiple “confessions” retracted in court and grave irregularities, two sacristans of the Svyatopokrovsk Orthodox Church in Zaporizhya, and brother of one of them, have been convicted of the 2010 bomb blast in the Church and sentenced to 15 and 14 years respectively 
The website is created with assistance of the International Renaissance Foundation and National Endowment for Democracy (USA)
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