The lawyers of Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union will provide free legal advice for out-migrants from the occupied Crimea and the ATO zone. Reception will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays 2 PM till 7 PM in the office of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights (21/8 Institutska Str., Khreschatik metro station, exit to Institutska Street).

Human rights defenders regard deportation as a proper name for the ban from entry Crimea, imposed by Russian authorities on Ukrainian citizens – Crimean residents. Ismet Yuksel and Refat Chubarov have experienced the impossibility to return to their homes and relatives, having been provided with no legal grounds. And these are not singular cases of the unlawful Russia’s prohibition to enter Crimea, imposed on Crimean Tatars. The aggrieved persons have nothing to do, but to sue the RF, and to endeavour to draw global community’s attention to this problem.

We would like to offer you the Briefer#4 of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union for January 2015 issued within Human Rights in Action Program supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

For the purpose of obeying the Law of Ukraine “On State Guarantees on Court Decisions Enforcement” having been criticized by experts because of its defiance. On September 3 this year the Government of Ukraine enacted the Regulation No. 440 “On Establishing the Procedure for Repaying Debts under the Court Decisions Guaranteed to Be Satisfied by the State” to enforce the Law provisions.

Human rights defenders state that the regulatory documents issued by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) divided people from the Crimea into three groups: the ones residing in the Crimea, internally displaced people and citizens having left the peninsula and residing in mainland Ukraine still having the Crimean residential registration. The challenges faced by people from the third group are caused by the short-sighted policy implemented by the NBU and are impossible to be settled because of inadequacy of the legislation in force.

In order to implement the Law of Ukraine “On State Guarantees on Court Decisions Enforcement”, which received criticism among experts upon its adoption due to its actual non-compliance, and to enforce provisions of this Law, on September 3 of this year the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Resolution No. 440 “On Approval of Procedure for Debt Redemption under the Court Decisions, Enforcement of Which is Guaranteed by the State”.

The problems with state support of the military survivors have not arisen since the beginning of the ATO in Ukraine, and mass media continually reports about that. In fact the military survivors faced them earlier.

Human rights activists claim that the major contribution to the conflict that arose in Regions of Donetsk and Lugansk was made by the representatives of the administrative, legal and local governmental authorities. The created system of labour and land exploitation in Donbas, which was fully controlled by the Ukrainian oligarchs, has transformed into nothing but a form of neo-feudalism. These conditions led to the deterioration of the public administration system together with industrial and social structure.

People’s deputies are to support the initiative with regard to the collection of signatures and the soonest registration of the draft law on amending the Constitution of Ukraine that will enable Ukraine to ratify the Rome Statute and become a member of the International Criminal Court, the human right activist organizations including Amnesty International, Euromaydan SOS and Public Freedoms Centre have announced today during the press conference held in Kyiv.

The annexation of Crimea and military conflict in Donbas might result in citizens filing a great number of complaints to the European Court of Human Rights, as despite the invasive actions of the Russian Federation these territories remain under the jurisdiction of Ukraine, internationally held accountable for the violation of human rights provided for by the Convention. Though this document, namely Article 15 thereof enables our country to escape responsibility having taken the derogation from obligations during the emergency situation. However our civil servants are not in a hurry to execute the right preventing Ukraine from payment of great amounts of reimbursement in the event of losing actions in the ECHR to applicants from the occupied territories in Crimea and Donbas. Bohdan Bondarenko, the lawyer of public office the UHHRU in Zhytomyr, has personally made sure of that.

A participant of the national liberation struggle, a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, an author of “samvydav” (self-published press). 42 years, 6 months and 7 days of imprisonment in Polish, German and Russian prisons, camps and exile.

By the Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine as of 29.12.1999 the “death penalty” was deemed unconstitutional. With a delay of four years Ukraine has fulfilled its obligations before the Council of Europe. However for the period from the date of accession to the Council of Europe in November 1995 until March 17, 1997 when the President just stopped to give his consent to the execution 217 people sentenced to death were executed, although they had to stay alive.

On July 29, 2014 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has passed to the Verkhovna Rada the draft law “On Housing and Public Utility Services", which completely destroys the old Soviet system of housing offices. Tetiana Zolotukhina, an expert of the Development Fund of the City of Nikolayev, explained in the public reception of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union in Mykolaiv what we will get instead.

Human rights activists claim that the attempt of National Bank to remedy the situation with discrimination of the Crimeans has resulted in new restrictions of their rights and established extra obligations. Furthermore, from now on banks are permitted to block and close not only corporate accounts but accounts of individual entrepreneurs as well.