TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT OF CHILDREN IN UKRAINE

Torture and ill-treatment of children in Ukraine661.7. The possibility of receiving compensationIn Ukraine’s legislation the possibility for receiving compensation fordamages caused through torture or ill-treatment can be fulfilled within theframework of civil procedure and civil law relations.The general rule regarding compensation of damages caused by a crimeis establishing the right of the victim to lodge a civil claim for compensationof material losses and moral compensation for the harm done by the crime.In such a case the person guilty must compensate the damages within theframework established by a court ruling.With regard to damages resulting from administrative liability, wherethere is a court ruling in an administrative case the victim can apply to thecourt for court protection, asking for compensation of damages caused by theadministrative offence.Article 1167 of the Civil Code establishes the grounds for liability for moraldamages caused. Moral damages to an individual or legal entity by wrongfuldecisions, actions or inaction are compensated by the person who causedthem if there is guilty, except in cases of damage caused by a source of heighteneddanger, as well as damages caused by wrongful conviction.The specific feature of compensation for damages caused by an official orcivil servant, or executive body is that it is compensated by the State regardlessof the person’s guilt.Compensation for damages caused by a wrongful decision, actions orinaction by bodies of detective inquiry, preliminary (pre-trial) investigation,prosecutor or court, if such damages are not linked with unlawful conviction,are compensation on general principles, i.e. on condition that guilt isinvolved.A special variant of compensation for damages to a small child or minoris compensation for damages caused through maiming or otherwise damagingthe health of a small child or minor. Such compensation is regulated bythe following rules: in the case of maiming or other damage to the health ofa small child the individual or legal entity which caused this damage is obligedto pay for the child’s treatment, prosthesis, permanent care, increased foodneeds, etc. After the victims reach the age of fourteen (in the case of a schoolstudent — eighteen), the legal entity or individual that caused the damageis obliged to compensate the victim also for damage caused by the loss or