CC declares unconstitutional restrictions on rights of those sentenced to life imprisonment to make short-term trips due to death of close relative
The Constitutional Court (CC) of Ukraine recognized the norms of the Criminal Executive Code, which make short-term trips outside the colony impossible for those sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the death or serious illness of a close relative, to be inconsistent with the Constitution, and ordered the Verkhovna Rada to within three months to bring them into line with the Fundamental Law, the Constitutional Court said.
As reported in the Constitutional Court's press release on Wednesday, the decision was made at a plenary meeting on December 20, 2023 on the constitutional complaint of Anatoliy Luzhynetsky, who was sentenced to life imprisonment and is serving his sentence.
Luzhynetsky believes that certain provisions of part one of Article 111 of the Code violate his constitutional rights and allow "short-term visits to relatives whose serious illness threatens their lives," since it is provided only for "convicts who are kept in minimum and medium levels of security," and for persons sentenced to life imprisonment, "who are kept in the maximum level of security, are not provided for, even if the latter have evidence of their correction."
"The Constitutional Court of Ukraine found certain provisions of part one of Article 111 of the Code inconsistent with the Constitution of Ukraine in that they make it impossible for persons sentenced to life imprisonment to travel briefly outside the colony on the territory of Ukraine in connection with such an exceptional personal circumstance as death or a serious illness of a close relative that threatens the patient’s life," the court said.
The court said the opportunity for everyone to visit their seriously ill close relative or attend his funeral is part of the constitutional right to privacy and family life in conjunction with human dignity. Therefore, the state must ensure that an appropriate mechanism is established for the implementation of this possibility, recognizing it for all persons sentenced to imprisonment, even for those who have committed specific crimes.
As reported, "the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ordered the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to, within three months, bring the normative regulation established by individual provisions of part one of Article 111 of the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine into conformity with the Constitution of Ukraine and this decision."