Remand prisoner who alleged torture commits suicide in Kharkiv SIZO

The media group Objektiv reports, citing its own sources, that a prisoner being held in the Kharkiv SIZO [pre-trial detention centre], Serhiy Lytvyn has killed himself.  Mr Lytvyn had previously alleged that he had been tortured on a number of occasions both in the Kharkiv Department for Fighting Organized Crime [UBOZ] where he was taken for questioning and in the SIZO.

On 2 May the Vinnytsa Human Rights Group circulated a statement saying that Serhiy Lytvyn had tried to kill himself since the SIZO Administration had for a long time ignored his complaints. The statement read:

“The Kharkiv SIZO Administration have long ignored the complaints made by prisoner Serhiy Lytvyn regarding torture, including torture with the use of electric shocks and gas masks. According to Serhiy Lytvyn documented by the Vinnytsa Human Rights Group, he has been passed from the Kharkiv SIZO for investigative matters to the Kharkiv UBOZ where he has been tortured, and then on his return to the SIZO staff have unlawfully refused to record the bodily injuries he sustained. As a result the detainee was driven to try to cut his throat, after which he was held in the SIZO for 14 days tied with handcuffs to his bed”.

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor at that stage began but had not completed a check of the statement from the Vinnytsa Human Rights Group.