Human Rights Ombudsperson calls Ukraine leader in mass use of arrest

The Human Rights Ombudsperson, Nina Karpachova plans to meet with the Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka and discuss the detention and remand in custody of former Minister of Internal Affairs, Yury Lutsenko, and other members of the former government.

She spoke of her plan today during a meeting with a group of National Deputies from the factions Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defence and BYuT – Batkivshchyna who handed her an appeal calling on her to help obtain Yury Lutsenko’s release.

She said that her position had been and remained the same, that Ukraine was a leader in the use of mass arrests and that this was a shameful situation.

With regard to the detention of Yury Lutsenko, Ms Karpachova stated that “it is absolutely incomprehensible and unacceptable when one criminal investigation is initiated and the person is detained on another case altogether”. She went on to say that this was a systemic feature and that she had always stressed that remand in custody should be an exceptional preventive measure. She noted that the law allows for others which are, for some reason, ignored.

She said that she planned to meet with the President and that such a meeting had been planned for last Friday but had not taken place. National Deputy Yury Karamzin asked her to tell the President about the criminal cases against all the former government officials, and to stress that this is already a dangerous phenomenon.

“If we exhaust the means for overcoming it in Ukraine we will be forced to turn to European structures and that will be an unpleasant situation for Ukraine”, he added.