Denisova signs cooperation memo with organization `Ukraine without torture`

Published Feb. 1, 2019 at 12:15 pm

A man holds a placard reading "Stop torture, Freedom for Dadin" as he pickets Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service headquarters in Moscow on November 1, 2016.A Russian activist jailed for staging solo anti-government protests claimed in a letter published on November 1 that he was beaten and threatened with rape and murder in prison. Ildar Dadin, a 34-year-old activist serving a two-and-a-half year sentence at a prison in Russia's northwestern region of Karelia, was the first person to be imprisoned under a new law that punishes repeated participation in unsanctioned rallies with jail time. In a letter to his wife published on Meduza, an independent Russian news portal based in Latvia, Dadin said that on the second day of his detention in September, the prison governor and three other employees came to his cell and began beating him.

Photo by AFP

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the public organization “Ukraine without torture.”

“Today I’ve signed a memorandum of cooperation with the public organization Ukraine without Tortures,” Denisova wrote on her official Facebook page on Jan. 31 evening.

According to the Ombudswoman, this cooperation is aimed at preventing torture of people in places of detention.

“Our interaction is aimed at preventing torture of people in places of detention and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. We involve public observers to conduct monitoring visits as part of the National Preventive Mechanism. Joint visits will help show how the reform, introduced by the Justice Ministry, works in this area,” said Denisova.

One of the priority areas of cooperation will be access to medical services in temporary detention facilities.

“One of the main strategic directions for this year is the study of access to medical services in temporary detention facilities of the National Police of Ukraine, pretrial detention centers and penal institutions of the State Penal Service of Ukraine,” Denisova said.