Will PACE Stop Monitoring?

Hanne Severinsen, rapporteur on Ukraine for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, stated that the process of monitoring Ukraine’s obligations in the legal sphere is coming to an end. She voiced the opinion after meeting in Kyiv with the Minister of Justice of Ukraine Oleksandr Lavrynovych, reports the For-ua.com internet publication.

PACE’s major claim against Ukraine’s justice is the fact that detention cells have not been passed to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. “A report was released in Strasbourg containing criticisms against Ukraine in this area. Besides, during a meeting with the Verkhovna Rada Ombudsman Nina Karpachova it was stressed that this problem remains among the most crucial ones,” said Ms. Severinsen. Mr. Lavrynovych, in turn, noted that the penitentiary system is already out of the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and that for a long term the Department on Executing Punishments has existed, an independent body subordinated to the government. “We propose to act as envisaged by [Ukraine’s] obligations by including the Department into the Ministry of Justice system,” said the minister. Simultaneously, detention cells are still under the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). However, the latter has already sent a proposal to the Verkhovna Rada to pass the detention cells over to the general penitentiary system. “We will insist that the preliminary detention institutions are included into the system of the Department on Executing Punishments,” stressed Oleksandr Lavrynovych. The minister also said that Ukraine is able to solve the problem on its own.

In other spheres like the freedom of speech or investigating the Gongadze case PACE’s claims on Ukraine remain unchanged, and Ms. Severinsen does not believe it necessary to stop monitoring. In particular she spoke of conducting independent monitoring of Ukrainian television channels to find out if censorship and pressure on journalists exist in Ukraine. In Ms. Severinsen’s words, in November 2002 a PACE representative will come to Kyiv to collect information on progress in the investigation of the Gongadze case.

Answering journalists’ questions, Ms. Severinsen noted that her visit to Ukraine wasn’t connected with the information on alleged Ukrainian arms supplies to Iraq. She noted that accusations of selling Kolchuhas are connected with Major Melnychenko’s tapes, which PACE rapporteurs have always considered as dubious.