EN - Human Rights in Ukraine

Укр [http://khpg.org] | Eng login search search MENU The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications About KhPG Brief introduction Board and staff Projects Annual reports Strategic plan Contacts Activity Investigative Journalism Political persecution in modern Ukraine Сampaigns Publications Monthly bulletin Prava Ludyny (Human rights) Some publications KhPG Archives Progress Hide menu X 19.04.17 | Freedom of conscience and religion Mustafa Dzhemiliev calls on Crimean Tatar political prisoner Ruslan Zeytullaev to end hunger strike You cannot stir the conscience of those who have none. Primarily for that reason, Mustafa Dzhemiliev, veteran Crimean Tatar leader and former political priso... | detail 18.04.17 | The right to a fair trial Supreme Court Candidate Exposed for Sentencing Innocent Man to Life Imprisonment It is, of course, for the court to determine a man’s innocence, however in the case of life prisoner Volodymyr Panasenko, nobody has ever believed he is guilty. Now, after Panasenko has been in pris... | detail 18.04.17 | Freedom of conscience and religion Crimean Tatar political prisoner punished in Russia for refusal to act as informer Rustem Vaitov has been punished for refusing to inform on other prisoners and Russia is ignoring the European Court of Human Rights by imprisoning him, Ferat Saifullaev and Nuri Primov thousa... | detail 17.04.17 | Terrorism Tortured to Death for Defending Ukraine’s Flag and Ukrainian Unity It is three years since Volodymyr Rybak was abducted by Kremlin-backed militants when he tried to remove the flag of the so-called ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ from the seized Horlivka city council building. His torture... | detail 15.04.17 | Human Rights Violations associated with EuroMaidan Suspected Maidan Killer & Three Other Ex-Berkut Officers Flee to Russia In a move which was easily to be predicted and averted, a former ex-Berkut officer suspected of direct involvement in the killing of Maidan activists has been allowed to escape justice. Vitaly Honc... | detail 14.04.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Batons & gunshots in new arrests of Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea Two Crimean Tatars have been jailed in Russian-occupied Crimea for so-called ‘propaganda of extremism’ after armed and masked officers, including from Putin’s ’Rozgvardiya’, b... | detail 14.04.17 | News from the CIS countries Russia found in violation of the right to life over Beslan School attack The European Court of Human Rights [ECHR] has found multiple violations of the right to life over Russia’s failure to take preventive measures against the terrorist attack on a school in Beslan in 2004 and over t... | detail 14.04.17 | The right to liberty and security Ukrainian Prosecutor’s strange attempt to help Russian FSB foiled Asylum-seeker Shakhban Isakov has been released from custody 10 days after a Ukrainian prosecutor demanded and obtained his arrest pending extradition despite serious grounds for believing he would be in danger if ... | detail 13.04.17 | Law enforcement agencies Accomplice to Maidan journalist killing has ’magic’ effect on Ukrainian judges Yury Krysin admits taking part in the fatal attack on journalist Viacheslav Veremiy during Euromaidan and has been convicted of numerous other violent crimes. Yet “Ukrainian judge... | detail 13.04.17 | Freedom of expression Crimean Tatar placed on Russia’s List of Extremists & Deprived of Pension for Calling Crimea Ukraine Suleiman Kadyrov has become the latest Ukrainian to be added to Russia’s ‘List of Terrorists and Extremists’ for openly calling Crimea par... | detail 12.04.17 | Freedom of expression Pro-Ukrainian victim of savage attack faces ’extremism’ sentence for Crimea is Ukraine post Ukrainian activist Ihor Movenko is facing criminal prosecution in Russian-occupied Crimea for so-called ‘extremism’, 7 months after a vicious attack o... | detail 12.04.17 | News from the CIS countries Putin’s National Guard Cracks Down On Opposition Activists In Irkutsk Although the official mission of the National Guard is to combat terrorism, many in Russia believe its true purpose is to protect Vladimir Putin and the government. | detail 11.04.17 | Against torture and ill-treatment Kremlin-backed Donbas militants accuse Ukraine and USA of ‘terrorist’ killings The self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] and Russian media have given wide coverage to militant claims that the head of Ukraine’s counter-i... | detail 11.04.17 | Army Russia breaches international law forcing Crimeans to serve in occupying army Nearly 5 thousand young Crimeans are to be conscripted into Russia’s army in 2017, with Russia thus openly flouting the UN General Assembly and the Fourth Geneva Convention. For the first time since Russia invaded and annexed... | detail 11.04.17 | Terrorism Why Did Putin Get Stuck in Eastern Ukraine? Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine is now entering its fourth year, but there was a time when few expected it to last even four weeks. The virtually bloodless seizure of Crimea, which fell to Russian troops in early 2014 without a fight, led most observers to conclude that Ukraine was e... | detail 10.04.17 | Freedom of conscience and religion Russia turns to closed courts for political prisoners in occupied Crimea Courts in Russian-occupied Crimea have now begun banning relatives and friends from attending court hearings – the only chance many have of seeing the imprisoned men. Most incredibly, the FSB has now told a cour... | detail 10.04.17 | Freedom of expression Russian media twist Bellingcat study to find Ukrainian Buk in Donbas before MH17 Incredibly, some Ukrainian websites have copy-pasted Russian propaganda media, including a website closely linked with the defence ministry, which deliberately distorted the findings of a new Bellingcat inves... | detail 09.04.17 | Politics and human rights Russia’s war on George Soros goes global In Russia there’s nothing new about accusing George Soros of trying to overthrow the government. But recently other authoritarian leaders around the world have also decided that the 86-year-old billionaire is the cause of all their troubles | detail 07.04.17 | Against torture and ill-treatment Death of Ukraine’s most famous torture victim to be reinvestigated A Kyiv court has ordered that the investigation into the sudden death in a Kyiv cell of Oleksandr Rafalsky be resumed | detail 07.04.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea 2 Crimean Tatars on trial for a pre-annexation pro-Ukraine rally released under house arrest Ali Asanov and Mustafa Degermendzhy are home with their families after almost two years in custody. Both are under house arrest and their surreal trial is cont... | detail 07.04.17 | Freedom of movement European Parliament approves visa liberalization for Ukraine It’s finally happened! The European Parliament on April 6 voted to lift visa requirements for Ukrainians wishing to travel to anywhere in the Schengen zone. | detail 06.04.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Crimean supporters of Russian annexation jailed after criticizing ruling party Journalist Alexei Nazimov and Alushta City Council deputy Pavel Stepanchenko have been held in custody in Russian-occupied Crimea for over 6 months. The charges keep changing, but the men... | detail 06.04.17 | News from the CIS countries Mass persecution inevitable if Russia bans the Jehovah’s Witnesses as ’extremist’ Russia’s Supreme Court appears to be on the verge of banning the Jehovah’s Witnesses after a Justice Ministry application which claimed that this world ... | detail 06.04.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Ukrainian jailed in occupied Crimea because someone with a different name is wanted by Interpol Kabir Mohammad, a Ukrainian citizen originally from Afghanistan and his Ukrainian family have paid a high price for their attempted visit on September 14... | detail 05.04.17 | Politics and human rights Freedom House: The False Promise of Populism ​Populists’ stunning electoral victories in Europe and the United States have shaken the post–Cold War order in Europe and Eurasia, but they could ultimately reinvigorate liberal democracy. | detail 04.04.17 | Freedom of expression Russia ignores its own international agreements in trying journalist for saying Crimea is Ukraine Russia is claiming that Mykola Semena sought to violate Russia’s territorial integrity in a text opposing Russian annexation, although it has never withdrawn from inter... | detail 03.04.17 | On refugees Ukraine re-arrests asylum-seeker in danger if extradited to Russia A Ukrainian court has ordered the detention, pending extradition, of Shakhban Isakov, an asylum-seeker whom Russia wants to prosecute on the same dubious charges as those Russia has brought against two renowned Crimean Tatar leaders, both Ukraini... | detail 03.04.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Russia taken to human rights court over ban on Crimean Tatar Mejlis Russia’s ban on the Crimean Tatar Mejlis [representative assembly] has been formally challenged at the European Court of Human Rights, with the Mejlis represented by prominent Ukrainian and Russian human... | detail 03.04.17 | News from the CIS countries Rights Groups Says Police Detain 59 At Opposition Protest In Moscow The arrests come a week after more than 1,000 were arrested during a demonstration organized by leading Kremlin critic and anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny. | detail 31.03.17 | Politics and human rights Arrest warrant on ex-Ukrainian PM culminates Russia’s most cynical torture-based political trial A Russian court has issued an ‘arrest warrant’ on ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, claiming that he was placed on the international wan... | detail 31.03.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Crimean Tatar activist jailed for video posted 7 years ago in new wave of repression Remzi Bekirov has been jailed for three days in an escalating offensive against Crimean Tatars who actively report on repression in Russian-occupied Crimea. It is doubtless in... | detail 30.03.17 | News from the CIS countries Ukrainian is serving 12 years in Russia for photograph of deserted aerodrome On March 10 Viktor Shur spent his 60th birthday in a Russian maximum security prison, far from his family in Ukraine. He has been imprisoned in Russia since Dec 9, 2014, with his alleged ‘espionage’... | detail 30.03.17 | Terrorism Crimean Tatar activist abducted by masked men from outside court Belyal Adilov was seized by men in camouflage gear and masks from outside the High Court in Russian-occupied Crimea on March 29 in the latest attempt to terrorize Crimean Tatars and deter them from showing solidarity with victims of persecution | detail 30.03.17 | News from the CIS countries PEN America honors Oleg Sentsov with 2017 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award PEN America announced on March 29 that it will honor imprisoned Ukrainian writer and filmmaker Oleg Sentsov with the 2017 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award at its annual Literary Gala on April 25 | detail 29.03.17 | Freedom of conscience and religion From torture to solitary confinement for a letter in Crimean Tatar Teymur Abdullaev, one of 19 Crimean Muslims held illegally in indefinite detention in Russian-occupied Crimea has been placed in a punishment cell for writing a letter to his family in Crimean Tatar. The guards considered t... | detail 29.03.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea New attack on Crimean Tatar rights lawyer Emil Kurbedinov Crimean Tatar rights lawyer Emil Kurbedinov has been summoned for questioning and informed he is facing a preliminary criminal investigation on absurd charges. This is the latest overt offensive against Kurbedinov and other lawye... | detail 29.03.17 | News from the CIS countries Continuing crackdown and police violence in Belarus The Civic Solidarity movement condemns mass detentions and police violence against peaceful demonstrators, calls for a strong reaction by the international community | detail 28.03.17 | Social and economic rights Poroshenko signs anti-Maidan law against NGOs & journalists fighting corruption President Poroshenko has signed into law a dangerous bill which could be used to put pressure on NGOs, investigative journalists or activists, especially those most actively seeking to expose and eradicate... | detail 28.03.17 | The right to liberty and security Kremlin-backed militants free blogger accused of ’extremism’, others still held hostage for pro-Ukrainian stand 53-year-old Hennady Benitsky has been released several months after being seized by militants from the so-call... | detail 28.03.17 | News from the CIS countries New Kids on the Block: A Younger Generation Invigorates Anti-Kremlin Protests In spontaneity and sprawl, the weekend protests across Russia were reminiscent of large anti-Kremlin rallies in 2011-2012 that were followed by a steady tightening of government control over the political lan... | detail 27.03.17 | News from the CIS countries Russian state TV in absurd denial over thousand-strong protests, mass arrests State-controlled media in Russia proved considerably easier to control than the tens of thousands of citizens on March 26 who joined anti-corruption protests called by Alexei Navalny, despite the likelihood o... | detail 26.03.17 | News from the CIS countries EU must reinstate sanctions after Belarusian dictator’s violent crushing of Freedom Day protests If the Belarusian authorities hoped to prevent their crushing of Freedom Day protests being monitored by detaining 57 international observers, they should hav... | detail 24.03.17 | Terrorism Russia’s weapons of Ukraine’s destruction were not "found in Donbas mines" Russia’s claim at the Hague that the Donbas militants were using Soviet weapons found hidden (together with 700 tanks?) in mines did not get the attention it warranted. The Western media have largely op... | detail 24.03.17 | Politics and human rights Killing of Kremlin whistle-blower Voronenkov removes vital witness for Ukraine While it remains unproven who carried out the brazen killing of ex-Russian MP Denis Voronenkov in Kyiv on March 23 or why, it is certainly true that Ukraine has lost a valuable witness willing to give damagin... | detail 23.03.17 | Freedom of expression Menacing FSB interrogations of Ukrainian Cultural Centre activists in Russian-occupied Crimea Four members of the Ukrainian Cultural Centre have faced FSB interrogation in a move that seems clearly aimed at intimidation and at labelling any pro-Ukrainian activities, however u... | detail 23.03.17 | Human Rights Violations associated with EuroMaidan Parliament pass law that could help Yanukovych avoid justice while hurting Ukrainians It is unlikely that President Petro Poroshenko will veto a law that he has himself lobbied for, but that is precisely what civic activists are demanding. Draft law No. 5... | detail 23.03.17 | News from the CIS countries Open Letter to the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenka We, 48 undersigned organizations from 24 countries, strongly condemn the continuing wave of detentions and harassment of peaceful protesters, journalists, human rights defenders, civil society activists, anarchists and opposition party members in Belarus. | detail 22.03.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Russia lies about its most openly anti-Crimean Tatar trial at the Hague Russia’s near total silence about its imprisonment and trial of Crimean Tatar leader Akhtem Chiygoz and others at the International Court of Justice in the Hague is hardly surprising, when Ukrain... | detail 22.03.17 | News from the CIS countries Ukrainian journalists detained in Moscow with student beaten for Ukrainian flag Two Ukrainian journalists were held in a Moscow police station for around 3 hours on Tuesday evening, together with the Russian postgraduate student beaten by the FSB for waving a Ukrainian flag during st... | detail 22.03.17 | Politics and human rights Ukraine lawmaker calls on USA to investigate new ‘evidence’ of secret payments to Manafort Paul Manafort is under scrutiny again after a Ukrainian lawmaker released documents he says show that U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairm... | detail 21.03.17 | Freedom of expression Crimean journalist accused of contempt of court for demanding open trial The first hearing into Russia’s trial in occupied Crimea of journalist Mykola Semena ended shortly after beginning on Monday, March 20, with the prosecution calling the defence ‘capricious’ and their demand... | detail 21.03.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Chechnya style lawlessness will not work in occupied Crimea, however much Russia tries Russia has concentrated negative and repressive features from all over the Russian Federation in occupied Crimea, a Russian human rights activist has said. However, neithe... | detail 21.03.17 | Politics and human rights Please start taking the Russian disinformation threat seriously! Open Letter of European security experts to Federica Mogherini | detail 20.03.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Russia orchestrates fast-track trial to imprison pro-Ukrainian activist in Crimea The trial in Russian-occupied Crimea has begun of Volodymyr Balukh, a Ukrainian from North Crimea whose latest arrest came just a week after he nailed a plaque to his home in honour... | detail 20.03.17 | Politics and human rights Ukrainians say Putin must go & Donbas be freed for normalized relations with Russia Russia’s annexation of Crimea and military engagement in eastern Ukraine have taken their toll on Ukrainians’ attitude to relations between the two countries. According to a recent study... | detail 20.03.17 | News from the CIS countries Belarus crackdown: more than 200 arrested or detained in two weeks One year after the EU lifted sanctions against Belarus, the government is resorting to harsh and violent repression to break the most massive protests seen since December 2010 | detail 19.03.17 | Politics and human rights Children with Machine Guns & Russian Flags vs Shame & Protest at Russia’s Crimea Landgrab A performance with children dancing about with machine guns was one of the most shocking parts of the state-organized festivities in Russian-occupied Crimea for the 3rd anniv... | detail 17.03.17 | Politics and human rights Russia now says it lied about Yanukovych letter used as pretext to send troops to Ukraine Three years after Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin read out a letter purportedly from Viktor Yanukovych asking Russia to send in troops to Ukraine, and almost a month after Ch... | detail 17.03.17 | Politics and human rights European Parliament demands Russia release Ukrainian hostages, slams human rights abuse in occupied Crimea An overwhelming majority of European parliamentarians have endorsed a hard-hitting Resolution condemning Russia’s occupation and repressive measur... | detail 17.03.17 | Social and economic rights Three years after the Revolution of Dignity: Why reforms are slowing, and how to prevent backtracking On the reasons why reform is slowing down | detail articles 12.04.17 | Terrorism Russian war crimes in Ukraine are of interest, Mr Tillerson Exactly 3 years ago, former Russian military intelligence officer Igor Girkin, with heavily armed Russian and pro-Russian militants seized Sloviansk in the Donetsk oblast, beginning a Russian-funded, armed and manned war that has continued to this day | detail 05.04.17 | The right to a fair trial Old tricks mar hopes for a renewed Supreme Court in Ukraine How can you believe in a transparent and fair competition for new Supreme Court judges when the goalposts shift in the middle of the game? When the criteria for selecting only the strongest candidates have been fixed, yet 43 candidates who didn&r... | detail 05.04.17 | Freedom of conscience and religion Crimean Tatar political prisoner declares hunger strike Ruslan Zeytullaev, one of the first men tried for unproven involvement in an organization which is legal in Ukraine has demanded an end to persecution of his people, and announced a hunger strike until specific demands are met. Zeytullaev addres... | detail 04.04.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Blacklist exposes judges involved in political persecution in Russian-occupied Crimea The Crimea Human Rights Group has collated important information about all judges involved in illegally imprisoning Ukrainian citizens in Russian-occupied Crimea. The blackl... | detail 03.04.17 | Analysis of the human rights situation in Ukraine Human rights in Ukraine in 2016: main trends The Ukrainian people under trying circumstances defend their freedom. Our war is just, and therefore we cannot be like the aggressor, with whom we are fighting. During the war the wounds in human souls are inevitable. But let not our hands to cause the... | detail 16.03.17 | Freedom of movement Poroshenko law could strip huge numbers of Ukrainians of their citizenship Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has tabled as urgent a draft law which would automatically strip Ukrainians of their citizenship if they voluntarily took on citizenship of another country | detail 10.03.17 | Freedom of conscience and religion Ukrainian jailed as a ‘terrorist’ in Russian-occupied Crimea for converting to Islam If 2 men arrested on Feb 11, 2016 were probably targeted for their human rights or civic activism, it is likely that Vadim Siruk was arrested as an ethnic Ukrainia... | detail 08.03.17 | Terrorism Russia slanders Crimean Tatar Mejlis & openly lies about Odesa, MH17 at Hague Court Russia’s attempt in its opening address to deny that Ukraine’s suit falls within the International Court of Justice’s jurisdiction was anticipated. Slightly less predictable was the strange simila... | detail 01.03.17 | Freedom of expression Russia moves from armed invasion of Crimea to 5-year sentences for Ukrainians who object Exactly three years after Russian soldiers with machine guns, but no insignia seized control in Crimea, a Ukrainian journalist has gone on trial, accused of ‘public calls to violate Russ... | detail 28.02.17 | Against torture and ill-treatment Why do Ukrainian MPs want to prove that Ukraine is just like Russia? The same Ukrainian MPs who rightly call for sanctions against those police, prosecutors and judges in Russia implicated in the torture and fabricated prosecutions of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and many other Ukrain... | detail 24.02.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Jailed for proving that Crimea did not ask for annexation A massive demonstration, organized by the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, outside Crimea’s parliament on February 26, 2014 prevented Russia from claiming Crimea had voluntarily chosen to be annexed. This is not just information for h... | detail 21.02.17 | Law enforcement agencies Ukraine’s Security Service and Human Rights At present the Security Service of Ukraine [SBU] is at the same time a security service and a law enforcement body. Nowhere in the civilized world do security services carry out law enforcement activities. Their purpose is to gather information within the framework ... | detail 17.02.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Russia has more than torture to hide in FSB’s ‘Ukrainian Crimea Saboteur Plot’ It is increasingly evident that the FSB have a great deal to conceal, including indications that the victims of its ‘Crimean saboteur’ plot... | detail 16.02.17 | Against torture and ill-treatment A brief description of KHPG strategic litigations in 2016 30.01.17 | News from the CIS countries Donald Trump should ask Putin’s Ukrainian hostages how torture ‘works’ US President Donald Trump’s assertion in a recent interview that torture ‘works’ was shocking for several reasons, but it was also wrong. Most people, subjected to enou... | detail 27.01.17 | Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Russia resorts to open terrorization of lawyers & their families in occupied Crimea Emil Kurbedinov, one of the lawyers representing many of Russia’s Crimean political prisoners, was detained on Thursday, Jan 26. He and his colleague Edem Semedlyaev were ... | detail News categories Chronicle Elections Politics and human rights Terrorism Implementation of European Law The right to life Against torture and ill-treatment The right to liberty and security The right to a fair trial Privacy Freedom of conscience and religion Freedom of expression Access to information Freedom of peaceful assembly Freedom of movement Prohibition of discrimination Social and economic rights Human trafficking The right to health care Environmental rights Children’s rights Women’s rights On refugees Interethnic relations Court practices Law enforcement agencies Penal institutions Army Self-government Civic society Human rights protection NGO activities Point of view Victims of political repression Dissidents and their time Deported peoples News from the CIS countries Miscellaneous The troubled times New publications We remember Announcements Human Rights Violations associated with EuroMaidan Human Rights Abuses in Russian-occupied Crimea Research topics The constitution and human rights Against torture and ill-treatment The right to liberty and security The right to a fair trial The right to privacy Access to information Freedom of expression Freedom of peaceful assembly Prevention of discrimination and inequality Prisoners´ rights he Security service in a constitutional democracy Analysis of the human rights situation in Ukraine Human rights and civil society History of the dissident movement in Ukraine KhPG in social networks Human Rights in Ukraine Website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, ©2017 khpg.org X login: password: confirm forgot the password registration X search X send me a new password E-mail: confirm