The monitoring group of the National Preventive Mechanism received from detainees in Ternopil complaints of torture on the part of the police. “In three days, we learned the stories of at least 11 people who claim the representatives of the Ternopil police had gone beyond their commission during detention,” said Tetiana Kurmanova, journalist of Human Rights Information Centre, a monitor of the National Preventive Mechanism during a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Journalist Tetiana Kurmanova has published on portal CENSOR.NET her article about cases that can testify the use of torture by Ternopil police. Among them is Ihor Kozoriz, who claims the Ternopil police applied electric current to his body and raped him with the mop. The incident occurred in early May 2017, and still, there hasn’t been a medical examination. “If there was an examination, there were no questions at this point,” added Ms. Kurmanova.
“If a person is being detained by police officers, receiving bodily harm is unacceptable. Because it automatically indicates that this was due to the fault of the institution, where the person is kept in detention,” said Volodymyr Shevchenko, Ternopil region coordinator of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.
“Ternopil is not unique, and the system of detention of a person, its maintenance, giving it a status and a lawyer needs a radical revision”, – noted Serhii Pernykoza, expert of the Association of Ukrainian Human Rights Monitors on Law Enforcement, monitor of the National Preventive Mechanism. Oleksandr Kushko, Chief Specialist of the Department of the Human Rights Protection of the National Police of Ternopil, said that the police were ready for cooperation and dialogue with the public. “We are ready to raise the rating of the national police, we are ready for active participation of the socially active members in all questions”, – said Alexander Kushka.