Oksana

The Lukyaniv detention center in Kyiv has long had a dubious reputation, and recent investigations have only confirmed the worst suspicions about what is happening behind its walls. Corruption, torture, extortion and drug trafficking are the realities that prisoners face every day. The Hapuga.UA program recently published a stunning story that caused a violent reaction in society and forced law enforcement officers to intervene immediately. After the release of the material, the National Police and the General Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation. On January 28, it appeared on the official website of the Prosecutor General’s Office information about the exposure of an organized group that organized large-scale drug trafficking to the pretrial detention center. At the same time, the police released a video of the searches, which confirmed the existence of a criminal scheme. According to the investigation, drug trafficking to Lukyanivskyi SIZO was organized by two brothers who were previously in this detention center themselves. They involved several more people in the criminal activity, among them was one of the prisoners and three freed citizens of Kyiv. They were responsible for delivering the drugs to the detention center, passing them over the fence. The obtained «goods» were sold to prisoners, and the received funds were partly used in the so-called «obschak» — a criminal fund from which the activities of the criminal world are financed. However, the drug business was not the only way this group made money. They also engaged in extortion, beatings and death threats. In order to force one of the prisoners to pay for a «quiet stay» within the walls of the detention center, he was brutally beaten and demanded two thousand US dollars. The victim was able to find only 80 thousand hryvnias, which he eventually handed over to the criminals. After the publication of the investigation and searches, the police conducted raids on the residence of the suspects, seized significant amounts of money, narcotics and draft records. All seven members of the group have been charged. Five of them, who were at large, were taken into custody without bail. According to Hapuga.UA, at least five people have been killed there since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. One of the last known victims is Andrii Kyazimov, who was brutally beaten in a detention center. He died in hospital on New Year’s Eve, and his death caused a significant public outcry. Former People’s Deputy of Ukraine Ihor Mosiychuk asserts, who is well aware of the situation in Lukyanivskyi SIZO, because he visited it several times with inspections. He emphasizes that corruption and disorder in the institution have reached critical proportions, especially since the beginning of the full-scale war. No less disturbing facts confirms Andriy Didenko, expert of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. He notes that in such an institution as the pre-trial detention center, no event takes place without the knowledge of the management. The head of the detention center and his first deputy control all the processes that take place there, and without their consent, such criminal schemes simply could not exist. Human rights defender Eduard Bagirov also adds that Volodymyr Halavka, the current head of Lukyanivskyi SIZO, is not suitable for his position. He claims that the situation has only worsened under his leadership, and the head of the detention center is doing nothing to correct it. Halavka has a controversial reputation. Before being appointed to this position, he headed Sofiyiv correctional colony No. 45, which was called the «death colony». Under his leadership, violence, corruption and lawlessness reigned there. The colony was a place where seriously ill prisoners were sent, and where the administration profited from the drug and alcohol trade through inmate «supervisors». All these processes were coordinated by the colony leadership, and Volodymyr Halavka played a key role in this. «Among the tens of hundreds of pre-trial detention centers, the Kyiv pre-trial detention center can be called a VIP pre-trial detention center. The risk of corruption and the financial ability to solve any issues — yes, the Kyiv pre-trial detention center has more such opportunities. But this issue is managed by the administration headed by the chief. You will have to negotiate immediately: where the conditions are improved for the rich, torture is often the case for ordinary detainees. Reports of beatings and even death in Lukyanivskyi SIZO, unfortunately, are constantly coming in. In the Kyiv SIZO, so-called bystanders, sycophants, various people who cooperate with the administration beat people and demand money from them. And the administration knows about it.» – stated human rights defender Eduard Bagirov. «You can immediately be placed in very bad conditions, where there is no way of life. And then, let’s say, not to demand, but to push you to pay and go, we will transfer you to another cell, where the conditions are better. As far as I know, these chambers of destruction are specially kept, let’s say so, to extort funds», — says Oleg Tsvily, a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. Illegal «prison price lists» that recently appeared in the media also confirm the situation in Lukyanivskyi SIZO. According to these data, a quarter gram of methadone costs 1.5 thousand hryvnias there, although in reality there are no fixed prices. Depending on the inmate’s ability to pay, prices can vary, and if someone has no money, they can be given a «discount», but with the obligation to pay back the debt with interest. The public expects that the law enforcement officers will not stop only at searches and that the investigation will not end only with the arrest of minor perpetrators. Corruption and violence in Lukyanivskyi SIZO have long gone beyond ordinary prison crime. All these schemes can exist only because of impunity and support at the highest levels of management of the penitentiary system. It is important not to allow the publicity of this case to gradually fade away. Public activists and human rights defenders are already calling for a further investigation not only into the facts of drug trafficking, but also into corruption in the pre-trial detention center management. If this case is brought to an end, it may be the beginning of real changes in the penitentiary system of Ukraine, which has long been in need of radical reform. Society expects not just another high-profile search, but a real cleansing of the Lukyaniv Prison from corruption schemes, violence and drug trafficking. Time will tell whether this case will be a turning point, and we will continue to follow the development of events.

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