Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group lawyers and monitors have been blocked from entering Oleksiivska Correctional Colony No. 25 in Kharkiv since a believed punitive operation on 8 January against prisoners who had complained of torture. The accounts of torture, and the prison’s reaction are so shocking that a criminal investigation is now underway, however it is imperative that the prisoners are allowed to see, and be questioned, in the presence of their lawyers. The State Penitentiary Service is claiming that the events on Jan. 8 were aimed at suppressing an imminent revolt by prisoners, however the brutal operation, and the removal to other prisons of several prisoners came after a number of prisoners gave consistent and harrowing accounts of ill-treatment and torture to KHPG lawyers and other representatives.
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Halya Coynash: Ukrainian prisoners beaten after complaining of torture
A guard walks along the corridor of the Lukyanivsky detention center in Kyiv on Aug. 1, 2017.
