A/HRC/40/59/Add.3
to be prosecuted not as torture and ill-treatment, but under articles of the Criminal Code
relating to abuse of power or authority.
(b)
Legal and procedural safeguards
23.
The Criminal Procedure Code provides safeguards for the prevention of torture and
ill-treatment, including the right to access a medical doctor in the first hours of detention, the
right to legal counsel, the right to be notified of the charges and the right to notify family
members of the arrest (arts. 210–213). Moreover, persons detained in criminal justice
institutions have the right to receive documentation setting out the reasons for their detention
and to be informed of their rights (arts. 208 (4) and 212 (3) (2)). Article 224 of the Code
prescribes legal standards for the interviewing of suspects, which are aimed at preventing
torture and ill-treatment. For example, an interrogation can be conducted for no more than
eight hours per day and for no more than two hours without a break.
24.
Article 87 of the Code prohibits the use of evidence obtained in violation of human
rights and freedoms, including evidence obtained under torture, cruel or inhuman treatment
or the threat thereof. However, the Special Rapporteur did not receive any information of
cases in which evidence obtained under torture had been excluded from subsequent legal
proceedings, in accordance with article 87 of the Code. The Special Rapporteur insists that it
is indispensable for judges and prosecutors to request alternative evidence to avoid relying
exclusively on confessions, and to always exclude information obtained through coercion.
25.
The Special Rapporteur takes note of article 206 of the Code, which provides that,
whenever a person states that he or she has been subjected to ill-treatment during
apprehension or detention by public officials, the investigative judge is required to record
such a statement or accept a written statement to that effect from the person concerned.
B.
Conditions of detention
26.
Places of deprivation of liberty in Ukraine are classified as pretrial centres under the
authority of the national police, pretrial or remand prisons, high-security prisons, mediumsecurity prisons and low-security prisons.
27.
The delegation visited the Kyiv pretrial detention centre at the Lukianivske facility,
police unit No. 4 in the Shevchenkivskyi district Police Department at 12 Prorizna Street, the
Shevchenkivskyi district Police Department at 9 Hertsena Street and the Kyiv Temporary
Detention Facility (a pretrial centre). In Odesa the delegation visited Odeska prison No. 14,
Odeska penitentiary institution No. 21, a prison with pretrial detention functions, the
guardroom of the Southern territorial administration of the Ukrainian Military Police and the
Kyivskyi Police Division in the city of Odesa. In Kharkiv the delegation visited the reception
centre for children at the Main Department of the National Police in Kharkiv province. In
Starobilsk the delegation visited the temporary detention facility and the pretrial detention
centre. In Bakhmut the delegation visited Bahmutska Penitentiary Institution No. 6, a prison
with a pretrial detention centre. In Kramatorsk the delegation visited the Kramatorsk
Temporary Detention Facility and a municipal treatment and preventive institution, the
Sloviansk City Regional Psychiatric Hospital.
1.
Excessive length of pretrial detention
28.
In the course of his visit, the Special Rapporteur received numerous complaints from
detainees about the perceived excessiveness of their pretrial detention and the absence of
judicial action on the part of the adjudicating authorities. In particular, a number of detainees
mentioned being in pretrial detention for more than a year without any investigative actions
or court hearings.
29.
Alternative measures to detention were reported to be used in exceptional cases only
and never in conflict-related cases. The regime for pretrial detainees is significantly more
restrictive than the regime applied to convicted detainees, and includes very limited contact
with family members, a strict regime regarding food parcels and the prohibition of paid work.
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