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More than 300 complaints about violating human rights were received by the profile parliamentary committee in 2001.

13.12.2001    source: 4 December 2001 , LIGA ONLINE
In 2001 the Parliamentary Committee for fighting with organized crime received more than 300 complaints and appeals about violation of human rights and freedoms by law-enforcing organs, among them 50 complaints and appeals about the application of psychical and physical violence. This information was presented by Gennadiy Udovenko, the head of the Supreme Rada Committee in charge of human rights, during the Parliamentary hearings on how Ukraine observes the UNO Covenant and the Council of Europe demands about torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and punishment.

G. Udovenko also told that the pretext for holding the Parliamentary hearings was the appeal of ombudsperson Nina Karpacheva to the Supreme Rada chairman concerning violations of constitutional rights during the detention and investigation. In particular, the ombudsperson described some cases, where testimonies were ’beaten out’ during the investigation.

According to Mr. Udovenko, such cases, unfortunately, are not infrequent in Ukraine. Nonetheless, it is rather difficult to get any information about applying torture.

G. Udovenko informed that his Committee has no information on measures used by law-enforcing organs to stop the application of violence in penitentiaries.

Besides, G. Udovenko considers unacceptable to leave such cases without punishment. He reminded that the UNO committee appealed to Ukraine to observe strictly the norms of the new Criminal Code of Ukraine that regards torture as a grave crime.

According to the information provided by the Secretariat of the Committee in charge of human rights, during several recent years the tendency is formed in Ukraine of worsening the health of people, who stay in preliminary prisons. 3251 convicts with the active form of TB and 3332 with venereal diseases were registered in 1999. The number of prisoners, who died in penitentiaries, increased by 2.3 times from 1995 to 1999.

Along with diseases the cause of the high mortality rate in penitentiaries are undernourishment and insufficient medical aid. If the finances given for nourishment in 1996 equaled 57.8% of the needed sum, then in 1999 this number was 18.9%. The financing for medicinal drugs and anti-epidemic measures in 1996 equaled 68% of the needed sum, in 1999 this proportion diminished to 6.6%, or almost by 10 times.

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