13:50 19.11.2020

Human rights activists propose to disband Berdiansk Correctional Facility No.77

2 min read

KYIV. Nov 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Human rights activists propose to disband Berdiansk Correctional Facility No. 77, where, according to them, torture and humiliation are used against prisoners.

"Now the Ministry of Justice has such a policy that the facility is closed if there is less than 50% of occupancy rate. Why cannot this be done with this 77th correctional facility? Denys Maliuska [Minister of Justice], why do not you do it with the 77th correctional facility? If you have no influence on it, if you cannot do anything, then close it altogether," Head of NGO "Alliance of Ukrainian Unity" Oleh Tsvily said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Thursday.

According to him, lawlessness has been going on in this correctional facility for many years, the staff abuses the prisoners, tortures them, there are cases of discrimination on ethnic grounds.

Tsvily said there are those convicted of minor crimes in the correctional facility.

Lawyer of NGO Human Rights Group "SICH" Maryna Kiptila said that this situation must be resolved at the country level.

She said that the human rights group submitted a petition to the department for criminal proceedings on torture of the Prosecutor General's Office.

"I really hope that in this case a decision will be made on the implementation of procedural guidance over the statements sent by us to the SBI [the State Bureau of Investigations] and that a proper, effective and prompt pretrial investigation will indeed be carried out, and the perpetrators will be identified and punished," Kiptila said.

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