Volodymyr Protsenko, mayor of Debaltseve, was accused by Ukraine’s Security Service and directly by the Interior Minister of active involvement in the Kremlin-backed militants’ so-called ‘referendum’ of May 11, 2014 on the creation of ‘people’s republics’

Please help break through Russia’s information blockade and tell people – politicians, the media about these prosecutions. And join the #letmypeoplego Marathon, writing to the men and letting them known they’re not forgotten

The grotesque 30-hour hearing of a man taken by force from hospital raises serious rights concerns and questions about the motives, which are only exacerbated by the events coinciding with the release from all restrictions of Yanukovych’s justice minister Olena Lukash

The case of Hennady Korban demonstrates a significant increase in brutality shown by the law enforcement bodies against those accused of committing crimes. KHPG demands that human rights standards are observed in criminal proceedings and that the state and its bodies and officials demonstrate a humane attitude to Ukrainian citizens regardless of their convictions, political, ethnic. religious or other affiliations.

As the trial begins of Crimean Tatar leader Akhtem Chiygoz and other Crimean Tatars over a pre-annexation demonstration, important details of the events on Feb 26, 2014 could explain the extraordinary persistence in continuing with a prosecution and trial which not only contravene fundamental principles of law, but are also in breach of Russia’s own legislation.

A ‘trial’ is about to begin in Russian-occupied Crimea which flies in the face of all principles of law and which is openly targeting Crimean Tatars.

4 Crimean Tatars are imprisoned in Crimea facing heavy sentences for involvement in an organization that is legal in Ukraine and other countries, but which Russia has labelled ‘terrorist’. There is no evidence that any of the men committed any crime, nor indeed that one of the men is even a member of Hizb ut-Takhrir. 

A ‘court’ in Russian-occupied Crimea has passed a one-year suspended sentence on Edem Osmanov over the peaceful protest on May 3 when veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemiliev was prevented from entering his homeland

After a ‘confession’ tortured out of Ukrainian Euromaidan activist Oleksandr Kostenko was used to imprison him on surreal charges, a military court in Russian-occupied Crimea has refused to even consider his appeal against the refusal to investigate clear evidence of torture

Ivano-Frankivsk blogger Ruslan Kotsaba has been in detention now since February 2015, on charges as contentious as the journalist’s public pronouncements. His lawyer says that she is preparing an application to the European Court of Human Rights and accuses the authorities of deliberately dragging out the court proceedings

The acquittal of Petro Melnyk, one of the 10 most dubious recent rulings, according to a study by Transparency International in Ukraine, has been revoked by the Kyiv Regional Court of Appeal, and a new court examination ordered, with a different panel of judges.

Russia’s Defence Ministry has officially denied that Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, captured in eastern Ukraine this May were Russian intelligence officers, however the men’s lawyers are seeking to have them recognized as prisoners of war who cannot be tried.

Hennadiy Korban, the head of the anti-Poroshenko UKROP party, was initially arrested at his home on October 31 before being released and re-detained on November 3.

There have been varied reactions to the detention of Gennady Korban, a person with a fairly specific reputation and close links with oligarch Igor Kolomoisky.

The only trial so far underway of Berkut officers accused of gunning down Maidan protesters in February 2014 is in danger of ending in mistrial, while other investigations are being obstructed in part because the same people responsible for violations during Euromaidan are still now in positions of authority.

Legal nihilism continues in the treatment of Euromaidan activist Oleksandr Kostenko, sentenced to almost four years imprisonment in Russian-occupied Crimea on absurd charges pertaining to an alleged and unprovable offence in Kyiv before annexation

Civic activists are calling on Ukraine’s legislators to rectify an anomaly that prevents life prisoners having their sentences reviewed. Even in countries with a well-developed judicial system, miscarriages of justice are possible. In Ukraine there are serious grounds for concern about a number of cases making the lack of possibility of judicial review scandalous.

Natalya Poklonskaya, de facto prosecutor in Russian-occupied Crimea believes the 20- and 10-year sentences passed on political prisoners Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko should have been “much tougher” and informs of three other cynically lawless trials about to begin

Andriy Vyshnevsky, Director of the Justice Ministry’s Legal Aid Coordination Centre has been stripped of his licence to practise as an attorney following critical comments about Ukraine’s National Bar Association. There is particular irony in the fact that his criticism was given - and not well received - during a conference on judicial reform.

A second person accused of grave crimes against Euromaidan activists has gone missing after a controversial decision to free him pending trial. Tavakkul Ragimov, a CURRENT police officer, was released from custody in July this year despite objections from the prosecutor and victims’ lawyers