The main objective of the visit was to review the measures taken by the Ukrainian authorities in response to the recommendations made by the Committee after previous visits. Particular attention was paid to the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police and to the situation in prison establishments, including those holding life-sentenced prisoners. The CPT delegation also examined the situation of persons held in military detention facilities.
In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with Denys Maliuska, Minister of Justice, Olena Vysotska, Deputy Minister of Justice, and Viktoria Litvinova, Deputy Prosecutor General, as well as with senior officials from the Ministries of Internal Affairs, Defence and Justice, the National Police, the Armed Forces, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigation.
The delegation also met representatives of the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) and staff of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) Unit set up under the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture. Further, meetings were held with representatives of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM), as well as with members of non‑governmental organisations active in areas of concern to the CPT.
At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to the Ukrainian authorities.
The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:
- Therese Rytter, 2nd Vice-President of the CPT (Head of Delegation)
- Ömer Müslümanoğlu
- Ceyhun Qaracayev
- Victor Zaharia.
They were supported by Borys Wódz (Head of Division) and Elvin Aliyev of the CPT Secretariat, and assisted by an expert, Andres Lehtmets, Head of the Psychiatry Clinic of Tartu University Hospital (Estonia).
The delegation visited the following places of deprivation of liberty:
Police establishments
- Odesa Temporary Detention Facility (ITT) No. 1
- Pustomyty ITT
- Vinnytsia ITT No. 1 (Building 1, Pyrohovo street)
- Zhovkva ITT
- Zhytomyr ITT No. 1
- Lviv Police Station No. 1
- Podil Police Division, Kyiv
- Zhashkiv Police Station, Uman
Prison establishments
- Kyiv Pre-Trial Detention Facility (SIZO)
- Odesa SIZO
- Lviv Penitentiary Institution (No. 19)
- Vinnytsia Penitentiary Institution (No. 1)
- Zhytomyr Penitentiary Institution (No. 8)
- Starobabanivska Correctional Colony (№ 92), Uman
- Lviv Multi-Purpose Hospital (Prison Hospital)
Military detention facilities
- Kyiv Guardhouse (Hauptvakht)
- Odesa Guardhouse
- Zhytomyr Guardhouse
- Temporary holding premises for military servicemen (KTZ) in Lviv