Amnesty International points out lack of progress in human rights protection in Ukraine

Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization focused on human rights, has stated that a culture of impunity for the police continues existing in Ukraine and the charges against former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko were politically motivated.

The organization's report in the state of the world's human rights in 2011 reads that tortures and other forms of ill-treatment remained unpunished in the country, as before.

"There were continuing reports of torture and other ill-treatment in police custody. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in nine cases against Ukraine, finding that Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture, had been violated," reads the document.

According to Amnesty International experts, a culture of impunity for the police continued in Ukraine.

"Structural shortcomings, corruption, non-existent or flawed investigations into criminal acts committed by the police (even in the face of medical or other credible evidence), harassment and intimidation of complainants, and the subsequent low level of prosecutions, all fuelled this lack of accountability," reads the report.

"In July, the Prosecutor General's Office stated that out of the 6,817 complaints made against police officers in 2010, only 167 had resulted in criminal investigations, of which 21 were subsequently closed for lack of evidence," according to the document.

In an item related to judicial reform in Ukraine, Amnesty International mentioned the gas case against Tymoshenko.

"On 11 October, Yulia Tymoshenko, who had been Prime Minister from January to September 2005 and again from December 2007 to March 2010, was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment and barred from holding public office for three years by a Kyiv court for signing a multi-million dollar energy contract with Russia in January 2009. The charges against her were not recognized criminal offences and were politically motivated," reads the report.


(2012-05-24/interfax)