The colonies are serving sentences Ukrainian people, who can not serve themselves due to serious illness or injury

During the monitoring visits to the colony of Ukraine Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union found seriously ill people who are not free, despite the fact that they can not be there for health reasons.

Visiting Journalists of radio station “radio Gromadska” head of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, who works at the Kharkiv Human Rights Group, Alexander Pavlichenko. A conversation with him reporters Lubomir Ferens and Olga Vesnyanka.

Olga Vesnyanka: Tell us about your monitoring colonies of Ukraine and what you see there?

Alexander Pavlichenko: We visit a variety of correctional colonies and have the right to have free access to all premises, meet with inmates to monitor detention conditions and to identify violations, if any. We also provide free legal assistance to those who need this assistance.

With such a monitoring mission we visited Buchansky penal colony number 85, where the recorded cases when this colony contains people who can not be there as his health.

The same case we have recorded in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Prisoner Sergey Krotov, who does not have all the limbs, is serving a sentence in the “Sophia colony» № 45. Accordingly, it requires special care and according to the law should be dismissed. We strive to release him, and is currently ongoing litigation.

In the 85th colony in Bucha we accidentally collided with the convict, Taking showers. He stood and waited for him will wash, because he is unable to serve himself: he speaks badly, is in serious psycho-physical condition, can not control the implementation of physical needs, so hard to convict him to stay close. And this man is serving his sentence and it becomes the path of correction! On the face – an absurd situation.

We looked at all of his medical records and noticed a paradox: the 84-th article of the Criminal Code provides for the release of prisoners who are unable to serve his sentence, if they have the disease included in the statutory list. And if certain diseases do not coincide with existing illnesses at the condemned, they can not be released. But we have a case where a person obviously can not serve his sentence.

Lubomir Ferens: Of course, the administration of trying to do something to help these prisoners to speed up the process of liberation?

Alexander Pavlichenko: We are talking about the colonies, which are intended only for the maintenance of sick prisoners. There really is very often petitioned for release, but the statistics show that the time to satisfy such petition is not always because the prisoners die earlier decision.

Olga Vesnyanka: It may amount to ill-treatment of prisoners?

Alexander Pavlichenko: The problem is that medicine is not up to that level, to dictate its own terms and to call for the release of such persons. Medicine can not affect the decision of the institution, bringing punishment.

Olga Vesnyanka: Is your mission in the Donbass, and if you commit human rights violations there?

Alexander Pavlichenko: In Donbass serving time not so many prisoners that demand immediate release, but the fact that the mortality rate is quite high in the above colonies, it should attract special attention to this situation. It should first of all concern those who really can not serve his sentence, and in particular those who suffer from mental illness. A serving of punishment of such prisoners sometimes threatens the health and even the lives of other prisoners.

Lubomir Ferens: What is the situation in Europe?

Alexander Pavlichenko: The Prison Service in Europe, of course, stepped forward a few decades. I have cited the example of Bulgaria, where the level of relationship to the people is much higher, even in the crisis years.

Although we have seen the desire for development in some colonies, where leaders see convicted in the first place people. But these examples are, unfortunately, a little bit.

Sourse, 18/09/2016