TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT OF CHILDREN IN UKRAINE

Torture and ill-treatment of children in Ukraine152As other practice of ill-treatment the following were mentioned:Separate incidents:— Interrogation without the presence of a lawyer and representatives.— Not providing the opportunity to make a phone call.— Pressure on the person’s circles: friends, parents, and others.Probably widespread:— Detention in improper conditions.— Detention in premises which are unsuited; ban on drinking, eating andgoing to the toilet.— Not being able to carry out bodily functions, eat and drink;— Forcing minors to do physical exercises (sit-ups; push-ups); forcingthem to clean the toilets;— Depriving them of food (where the established time limits have beenexceeded).Very widespread, more like the rule— Working overtime, without keeping to the hours of work— Uncontrolled and unlimited pressure— Not being provided with timely medical assistance, ignoring withdrawalsyndrome— Improper conditions in ITTThe experts in general agree on the wide prevalence of ill-treatment andviolence. Threats and psychological pressure are probably the norm, somethingstandard. The exception is in certain cases where the guilt of the defendantsis obvious and they admit it voluntarily. Paradoxically, however, evenvoluntary confession of guilt does not always make it possible to avoid pretrialdetention. In verbal form the experts probably agree that a certain levelof psychological pressure on those under interrogation and the defendant isa necessary component of investigative actions, however some types of pressureare unacceptable, especially with respect to minors. Physical force andhumiliation in order to extract testimony were seen by the experts as beingwidespread with incidents of such frequent. This assessment correspondswith data received through interviews with underage prisoners.