On November 3, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture will discuss the findings of a team of experts who visited Ukraine’s penitentiaries. In Ukraine, where observers predict that every other resident will soon have a criminal record, penal reform is to become an issue of as much principal importance as outlawing capital punishment. Volodymyr Yevintov, director of the Human Rights Center at the Ukrainian Legal Foundation and elected Ukrainian member of the torture prevention committee by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, believes that “real troubles will start for Ukraine later on.” Committee members represent 39 CE member states which have ratified the European Convention on the Prevention of Torture and form an entity absolutely independent of any governments. This highly sensitive report is still kept secret, but the Committee, being a quasijudicial body with independent oversight authority must first develop recommendations for Ukraine, aimed in particular at improving its penitentiary system. If these recommendations are ignored, the Committee shall have the right to apply very harsh sanctions, ranging from making its findings public knowledge to political isolation.







