Frequent reports of torture and ill-treatment, including from women and juveniles, delays in providing specialised medical examinations for Tymoshenko, Lutsenko and others, and more in the latest report from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

3 years after 6 police officers were found guilty by a first instance court of exceeding their powers and unlawful methods of detective inquiry, a Chernihiv newspaper reports that all the men are at liberty and some are still serving in UBOZ

The law on amendments to the Law on the Human Rights Ombudsperson regarding a national preventive mechanism came into force on 4 November.

The Kharkiv Institute for Social Research estimates as many as 900 cases of ill-treatment in police custody a year. Human rights workers believe that the majority of victims are afraid to report what happened to them.

According to amendments introduced last week in the Law on the Human Rights Ombudsperson, the latter will now be able to visit places of confinement without warning

On 13 August the first instance court in the trial of Kharkiv resident Yakiv Strogan who spoke out publicly for almost 4 months about police torture and extortion and was then charged with "attempted murder”,and held in custody for 15 months finally issued its verdict

At around 13.00 on 2 August a 35-year-old man apparently jumped out of a toilet window on the fourth floor of the Ordzhonikidsky District Police Station in Kharkiv. The version given by the police contains several discrepancies

Bogdan Savitskyy has first group disability status following an encounter with the police in the Ivano-Frankivsk region which left him with a double fracture to the spine

28-year-old Roman Valetov died while detained in the Donetsk SIZO [remand prison]. His relatives assert that he was beaten and point to numerous injuries and bruises. The State Penitentiary Service asserts that he injured himself following spasms similar to an epilepsy attack.

26 June is International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Protests to mark this day took place in many Ukrainian cities. This is a report of the press conference which took place in Kharkiv.

Relatives of a man from Donetsk say that police raped him with a crowbar after detaining him and taking him to the Petrovsk District Police Station

There are extremely serious grounds for concern over the investigation and trial of three young men accused of the Zaporizhya Church explosion. They have been held now in custody for almost two years and civic intervention is vital.

The latest hearing in the scandalous murder charges brought against Yakiv Strogan who had publicly alleged torture by police officers has once again been deferred, this time apparently due to the judge being unwell.

As reported the case of Ihor Zavadsky, a prize-winning accordion-player has given rise to sensational headlines, but also concern. He has now been remanded in custody for another 4 month

The latest hearing in the trial of Yakiv Strogan was supposed to take place on Wednesday but was postponed for the second time because the new forensic medical report ordered 4 months ago is still not ready.

The Kyiv Court of Appeal has ordered further investigation in the criminal prosecution of two police officers charged of involvement in the death of Ihor Indylo in the Shevchenkivsky Police Station in Kyiv in May 2010. It has thus allowed the application from Ihor’s parents and the lawyer representing them

Oleksandr Bukalov from Donetsk Memorial, an organization particularly active in upholding prisoners’ rights has responded to the Prosecutor General’s recent public statement about the bruises on imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko

Fellow members of the congregation held a picket with a sign reading “They torture people here” after two members of the Church of Evangelical Baptists were allegedly subjected to blows, abuse and threats by officers of the Zarichny Police Station.

In March 2011 32-year-old Yevhen Zvenigorodsky was taken out of a Kharkiv police station and left to die on a city square

The court has ordered that a new forensic assessment be carried out after experts were not provided with the domestic knife purportedly used in the alleged “attempted murder”, and any medical document indicating the level of injuries