MENU
Documenting
war crimes in Ukraine

The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Similar articles

Law on Prosecutor’s Office another missed opportunityChildren 'beaten for supporting Ukraine'. Seventeen kids returned after being held in Russian-occupied Crimea Imprisoned Ukrainian civic journalist declares dry hunger strike in occupied Crimea Arrest warrant against Putin sends a vital signal, however Russia began committing that war crime in 2014 Russian court jails soldier for admitting to proven war crimes in Ukraine Russia denies Ukrainian prisoners of war protected status, tortures out 'confessions' and then stages illegal ‘trials’ New brutal sentence in Russia’s 'liquidation of dissenters' in occupied Crimea Russia demands 18-year sentence for Crimean Solidarity human rights activism in occupied Crimea Russian FSB ‘investigator’ involved in Crimean political persecution foiled by CCTV footage UN Committee orders Russia to refrain from killing second Crimean Tatar political prisoner in one monthRussian military pilot who knowingly bombed Kharkiv civilian targets sentenced to 12 years Російська Федерація фінансувала мережу катівень на Херсонщині — Вейн ДжордашNobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and his Viasna colleagues sentenced to heavy prison terms in Belarus'Court' in Russian-occupied Crimea passes long sentences against three Ukrainian Jehovah’s Witnesses Russia seeks 12-year sentence against Crimean Tatar claiming 'terrorism' in a religious discussion 7 years ago ‘They just killed him’ — Vitaliy Matukhno, an inmate suffering from cancer, died in the prison hospital Russia terminates ‘trial’ of refugee it killed in occupied Crimea two years ago A Year of Full-Scale Russia-Ukraine War: the Kharkiv RegionRelentless torment of Ukrainian serving 11-year sentence for opposing Russia’s occupation of Crimea Freed POW confirms likely huge number of Ukrainian civilians held hostage in Russia

UHHRU: New Law on Prosecutor does not remove unconstitutional supervisory role

26.09.2012    source: www.helsinki.org.ua

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union has issued a statement in which it warns that the amendments to the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office do not resolve the problem arising over the existence of “overall supervision” not envisaged by the Constitution.

On 10 September 2012 the President signed the Law on Amendments to Some Legislative Acts on Improving the Work of the Prosecutor’s Office.

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union notes that the law was adopted against the background of promises made over many years by Ukraine to carry out fundamental reform of the Prosecutor’s Office in order to bring the system and work of prosecutor’s offices into line with the generally accepted standards of the European community.

We would stress that reform of the Prosecutor’s Office remains an urgent task for the Ukrainian government and the law adopted can only be considered a small, overly cautious step in that direction. We would point out that this law in no way resolves the problem arising over the existence of “overall supervision” by the Prosecutor’s Office which is in breach of the Constitution which does not envisage such oversight. We are concerned that a country which calls itself law-based is, via this law, yet again legitimizing the ongoing situation where the Constitution is being flouted despite certain reduction in the boundaries and means of general supervision.

not envisaged by the Constitution

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union stresses that the existence of general supervision by the Prosecutor’s Office hampers other legal reforms, in particular reform of criminal court proceedings, a component of which is the new Criminal Procedure Code. Retention of the Prosecutor’s considerable extra-procedural powers devalues many progressive provisions of the CPC and the possibility for persecution given the Prosecutor’s Office under the pretext of Prosecutor checks to a large extent turns the CPC into mere decoration.

We call on:

The President and Verkhovna Rada to:

once again confirm that their intention to fundamentally reform the Prosecutor’s Office system and work remains unchanged;

accelerate work on reforming the work of the Prosecutor’s Office;

activate cooperation with experts from the Council of Europe and Venice Commission;

carry out further measures on reforming the Prosecutor’s Office basing this on their conclusions and recommendations.

We call on the Working Group on Reform of the Prosecutor’s Office and System of Defence Lawyers to continue its work on drawing up proposals for comprehensive reform of the Prosecutor’s Office system in accordance with generally recognized international democratic standards, taking into account  the recommendations and comments of experts from the Council of Europe and Venice Commission.

Head of the UHHRU Board Yevhen Zakharov

Executive Director Arkady Bushchenko

 Share this