No recorded tortures in Ukraine's institutions of penitentiary system in 2017 - Feb. 23, 2018

No recorded tortures in Ukraine’s institutions of penitentiary system in 2017

Published Feb. 23, 2018 at 11:38 am

Ukrainian activists with their hands tied and plastic bags over the heads sit next to other demonstrators holding placards reading "GPO (General Prosecutors Office) is the place of tortures", "Prosecutors torture people in Ukraine" during a protest in front of the General Prosecutors Office (GPO) in Kyiv on August 17, 2016. Some hundred protesters gathered to protest against the pressure on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) - a new body created with the purpose of cleansing government of corruption, launching of which was one of the IMF and European Comission key requirements. On Aug. 12 NABU officials accused GPO staff of "the first open unlawful confront", saying that two of their officers, while being on duty, were illegally detained for 11 hours. / AFP PHOTO / SERGEI SUPINSKY

Photo by AFP

There were no cases of torture in the institutions of the penitentiary system of Ukraine in 2017, the Ministry of Justice has reported.

“We found upon the conclusions of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which visited us in December. None of the institutions visited had any complaints about the use of physical force. In addition, it was noted that food in institutions was satisfactory. Therefore, I can say for sure that in 2017 there were no tortures,” said Deputy Minister of Justice Denys Chernyshev, quoted by the Justice Ministry on February 22.

Earlier the organization Amnesty International Ukraine claimed that Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies continue to use tortures and other forms of ill-treatment.

“The investigation into the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) for its alleged secret prisons failed to make any progress. Law enforcement officials continued to use torture and other ill-treatment,” the human rights organization said in an annual report, which was made available to Interfax-Ukraine.