Ukraine: 25-year-old dies following police interrogation

27.02.2012

Source: Human Rights in Ukraine

On 8 February in the Budyonovsk District Police Station in Donetsk a young man died after being “invited to the station” to give testimony in a criminal investigation regarding a robbery.

The police website reports that the man “was invited to the district police station to carry out investigative activities on a criminal investigation initiated over a robbery (Article 186 § 2 of the Criminal Code). After the investigative activities ended he left the office, sat on a chair in the corridor and fainted. Police officers immediately called ambulance doctors who, following an examination, declared him dead.”

The report then states that the Prosecutor’s Office staff found no signs of a violent death, and that the cause of death will be established after the relevant investigation.

In January at least 2 young men died in unclear circumstances following detention. On 25 January the State Penitentiary Service issued a statement after journalist Konstyantin Usov reported the death of a 21-year-old in the Kyiv SIZO [Remand Unit].

The journalist wrote that the young man died after 40 minutes in convulsions with the calls for help from his cellmates going ignored. He also said that sources in the SIZO suggested that the authorities were planning to say that the man had died of an electric shock. This is indeed what was announced in a statement which suggested that the man had received medical attention immediately.

A few days earlier another young man of 20 who had been detained on suspicion of robbery apparently hanged himself.

  • Geographical area: Ukraine
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