Amnesty International Report 2003 - Ukraine

Covering events from January - December 2002

UKRAINE
Head of state: Leonid Kuchma
Head of government: Viktor Yanukovych (replaced Anatoliy Kinakh in November)
Death penalty: abolitionist for all crimes
International Criminal Court: signed

Allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by police officers persisted and appeared to be widespread. Prison conditions continued to fall below international minimum standards and were frequently cruel, inhuman and degrading. No progress was made in determining who was responsible for the "disappearance" of journalist Georgiy Gongadze and for the killing of television journalist Igor Alexandrov. Press freedom continued to come under pressure.

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Torture and ill-treatment

Allegations of torture and ill-treatment by police officers continued. AI's long-standing concerns were reflected in the reports of three visits by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to Ukraine in 1998, 1999 and 2000, which were published in October 2002. The CPT concluded in its report on its visit in 2000 that people in the custody of the police ran a significant risk of being physically ill-treated, particularly at the time of arrest and during interrogation, almost invariably for the purposes of extracting a "confession".

During its 1998 and 2000 visits the CPT encountered "numerous allegations" of ill-treatment, which included kicks, punches and blows with a truncheon. However, the CPT also received allegations of more severe forms of ill-treatment which could amount to torture. These included electric shocks, pistol whips, burns using cigarette lighters, asphyxiation by placing a gas mask or plastic bag over a detained person's head, beatings while handcuffed and suspended by the legs or arms, and beatings on the soles of the feet.

Allegations of ill-treatment were not confined to police custody. During its 2000 visit to several prisons the CPT encountered a number of allegations of ill-treatment which included blows with fists, various wooden objects and rubber batons or tubes. Disturbingly, the CPT stated that many detainees in police holding facilities and prisons appeared afraid to talk to members of its delegation or to be examined by its medical members for fear of subsequent reprisals.

Harsh prison conditions

Only very limited progress was made in improving conditions in pre-trial detention centres and prisons, which fell below international minimum standards. Endemic overcrowding was exacerbated by a general policy of remanding criminal suspects in custody and the infrequent use of non-custodial punishments. Delays in the administration of justice resulted in prolonged periods of pre-trial detention.

• After its visit to Ukraine in 2000 the CPT described conditions at the SIZO No. 15 detention centre in Simferopol as characteristic of conditions often experienced by prisoners. "[The majority] of the prison population... were subjected to appalling material conditions. Inmates were crammed into severely overcrowded dormitories... with virtually no natural light, often poor artificial lighting and inefficient ventilation ... Furthermore, the establishment was unable to provide each prisoner with a bed; consequently, in many dormitories, inmates had to take turns to sleep. While some dormitories had been freshly painted, many others were dirty and infested with cockroaches and other vermin."

Attacks on journalists

The investigation into the "disappearance" of the Ukrayinska Pravda journalist, Georgiy Gongadze, on 16 September 2000 dragged on throughout 2002. In July, the newly appointed Prosecutor General, Svyatoslav Piskun, established a special investigative committee to probe the circumstances surrounding the journalist's "disappearance", but with few apparent results. The investigation's lack of progress continued to draw domestic and international criticism.

Similarly, few advances were made in determining who was responsible for the beating to death of Igor Alexandrov, the head of the TOR television station, in Slavyansk in July 2001. On 17 May a court in Donetsk acquitted a homeless man who had been charged with the murder, on grounds of lack of evidence. Domestic and international press monitors believed that Igor Alexandrov's murder may have been related to TOR's investigations into government corruption and organized crime.

Freedom of expression

There continued to be widespread concern about excessive restrictions on press freedom in Ukraine. A number of privately owned newspapers and radio and television companies accused the authorities of attempting to stifle their journalistic activities by various administrative means. There were also reports of journalists being physically attacked by unidentified assailants.

• On 15 April a court in Cherkassy sentenced newspaper editor Oleg Lyashko to 10 days' imprisonment for allegedly obstructing police officers when they attempted to enter the privately owned Republic publishing house in order to confiscate the entire print run of the newspaper Svaboda on 24 March. The day before, police officers had allegedly dumped into a river 107,000 copies of the same edition which reportedly levelled allegations of corruption against a senior state official.