MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2024)1501/H46-39

13 June 2024

1501^st meeting, 11-13 June 2024 (DH)

H46-39 Sukachov (Application No. 14057/17), Nevmerzhitsky group (Application No. 54825/00), Yakovenko group (Application No. 15825/06) and Melnik group (Application No. 72286/01) v. Ukraine

Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments

Reference documents

CM/Notes/1501/H46-39

Decisions

The Deputies

1. welcomed the presence of the Deputy Minister of Justice and the authorities’ continued commitment to fully comply with the Sukachov pilot judgment and the other judgments of the European Court in the present group of cases;

2 recalling the long-standing structural problems of overcrowding, inhuman and/or degrading conditions of detention, nutrition and transportation and continued absence of a Convention-compliant system of domestic remedies in this respect; stressing again that these deficiencies have serious implications and continue to put an additional, undue burden on the Convention system;

3. recalling further the European Court’s indications under Article 46 in the Sukachov pilot judgment that Ukraine must, both take measures aimed at reducing overcrowding and improving material conditions of detention, and introduce preventive and compensatory remedies by 30 November 2021, and that the pilot judgment remains unenforced despite expiration of the term indicated by the Court;

4. considering at the same time the extreme difficulties faced by the Ukrainian authorities in the context of the continuing Russian aggression and the impact thereof on the conditions and infrastructure of the penitentiary system, noted with satisfaction the authorities’ continued commitment to improve the situation in the penitentiary system notwithstanding these difficulties;

As regards individual measures

5. noted that no further individual measures are required in three repetitive cases in these groups, given that the just satisfaction has been paid and the individual situation of the applicants has been redressed; decided, without prejudice to the Committee’s evaluation of the general measures, to close their examination by adopting Final Resolution CM/ResDH(2024)130;

6. invited the authorities to continue submitting detailed information regarding the individual measures in the remaining judgments; called on them to ensure that the sums of the just satisfaction unclaimed by the applicants are made available to them after the one-year period and to finalise the adoption of the draft legislative amendments aimed at resolving this problem;

As regards general measures

7. noted with interest the information about the implementation of the Penitentiary Reform Strategy, notably the ongoing and planned measures for improving material conditions of detention, including refurbishment of facilities and creation of places of detention compliant with human rights standards; recalled however the invitation to the authorities to reconsider the “paid cells” financing option and to find Convention-compliant alternative ways for the financing of improvements in detention conditions;

8. welcomed the adoption of legislation introducing probation supervision as a new type of criminal sanction and invited the authorities to update the Committee on the impact of this measure on reducing the prison population; at the same time, noted with regret the absence of information on the measures taken for minimising the use of pre-trial detention and called upon the authorities, once again, to take rapid action to address this issue;

9. while noting some recent developments related to the consideration of draft law No. 5652 pending in the Parliament, reminded the authorities of their long overdue obligation to comply with the pilot judgment and to establish preventive and compensatory remedies, as well as to increase the minimum standard of personal space for detainees and exhorted them to give the necessary priority to these reforms and adopt relevant legislation swiftly; encouraged them to make full advantage of the Council of Europe expertise to ensure that the new remedies are aligned with the Convention standards;

10. noted the ongoing work on the development of medical care standards for the procedure of force-feeding and invited the authorities to keep the Committee updated on the results thereof, as well as further developments in this area, including any new judicial and administrative practice;

11. decided to resume examination of these groups of cases at one of their DH meetings in 2025.