October 2023 marked the first visit to Ukraine by the CPT since the beginning of the full-scale military aggression by the Russian Federation in February 2022. As stated at the time of the publication of the visit report in April 2024, the Committee acknowledges the considerable efforts of the Ukrainian authorities to provide adequate conditions to persons deprived of their liberty in these extremely difficult times.
The main objective of the visit was to examine the treatment and safeguards afforded to persons deprived of their liberty by the police and to look into the situation of persons held in prison establishments, including life-sentenced prisoners. The CPT delegation also examined the situation of persons held in military detention facilities.
The report noted that the great majority of the interviewed persons who were being, or had recently been, held in police custody indicated that the police had treated them correctly. The Committee takes note of this positive finding, illustrating the results of efforts deployed by the Ukrainian authorities in recent years to improve the treatment of persons detained by the police. Nevertheless, the delegation did receive some allegations of physical ill-treatment by the police, and the report highlights that the authorities should remain vigilant and pursue their policy of “zero tolerance” of police ill-treatment.
As regards the military detention facilities (hauptvakhtas) visited, no allegations of ill-treatment of detained military servicemen by staff were received. Material conditions of detention in these establishments were on the whole acceptable. However, it is of particular concern that there were no organised activities for servicemen on remand, who were obliged to spend 23 hours per day inside their cells, often for long periods, for months and sometimes even years.
Whilst welcoming the continued efforts made by the Ukrainian authorities over the past 25 years to reduce the country’s prison population, the report noted that the proportion of remand prisoners remained high and that many remand prisoners continued to be held in overcrowded conditions for prolonged periods of time. Further, the long-standing phenomenon of informal prisoner hierarchy was still prevalent throughout the prison system and those who found themselves at the bottom of this hierarchy were often exposed to a risk of violence, intimidation and exploitation by other prisoners.
Most of the prisons visited were located in old buildings which had not seen any major refurbishment for many years and the bulk of the prisoner accommodation in these establishments was in a poor state of repair. The situation was particularly precarious at Odesa Pre-Trial Detention Facility (SIZO), where the conditions of detention of the vast majority of prisoners could be considered as inhuman and degrading. Whilst fully acknowledging the challenges posed by the ongoing war, the report stressed that even during armed conflicts the fundamental rights of detained persons – including their right to be held in decent conditions – must be guaranteed.
In their response, the Ukrainian authorities refer to ongoing repairs in the establishments visited and to a project initiating the construction of a new remand prison in Lviv. The response of the Ukrainian authorities also outlines other measures taken or envisaged in order to implement the recommendations contained in the report.
The response has been made public under an automatic publication procedure introduced by the Ukrainian authorities.
