ANTI-TORTURE

The participants of the press conference presented the results of the work of the Public Council under the Regional Department of Internal Affairs and the mechanism for monitoring the observance of human rights in temporary detention centers (ITT), namely mobile groups. The main function of these groups is to prevent the occurrence of torture and ill-treatment of detained or arrested persons.

In particular, the executive director of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Viktor Tarasov told local media about the history of the creation, functions, tasks of mobile groups, and the results of their activities in the Chernihiv region and in Ukraine as a whole. As Mr. Tarasov noted: “The task of the mobile group includes recording the state of affairs that exists in district departments, rooms for those brought, temporary detention centers. Compliance with the rights of detainees, conditions of their detention, information on the rules for citizens to contact police agencies, working conditions of police officers – this is a range of issues that fall within the competence of mobile groups. A report is drawn up based on the results of each visit, which is sent for information and response to the management of the agency being inspected. The mobile group includes both police officers and, without fail, representatives of the public.”

— In temporary detention centers of the Chernihiv region, detainees are almost never beaten or tortured, — emphasized the assistant to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the region Alla Lepekha. — On the contrary, the conditions of detention for detainees have improved in recent years. Thanks to the intervention of members of the public council at the regional police, much has been done. The ITT in the district departments has been cosmetically renovated, new bed linen has been issued. In some, plumbing has been replaced.

The fact that they do not torture in the ITT was also confirmed by the co-chair of the public council, director of the Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Center. “They beat and torture in police offices,” Valentyna Andriivna specified. “Imagine what needs to be done to a person to make him confess… I know the story of one resident of Chernihiv. She signed a confession that she killed (!!!) her friend. She has been serving a sentence for eight years for something she did not do.”

“Detainees cannot be beaten and tortured, but this is often done with impunity. In the colony where former law enforcement officers are serving their sentences (Makoshyne village, Chernihiv region), there is not a single person convicted of torture, only for abuse of authority, which is punished less severely. It is difficult to prove the use of unauthorized interrogation methods. After all, they are beaten in offices, in strongholds, on the street, — says Valentyna Badyra. — People often turn to human rights activists about violations of their rights by the police. However, they are not always ready to go to the end, to defend their position.

During the press conference, statistical data on human rights violations in the activities of the regional police and the police officers brought to justice were also presented.