A film by TVi channel journalist Kostiantyn Usov about the custody conditions in Kyiv Pre-Trial Detention Center (SIZO) did “move” the government. On April 10 Yevhen Dombrovsky, acting head of Lukianivsky SIZO No.13, was removed from his work duties for the time of inspection. This was announced by Kyiv prosecutor Anatolii Melnyk during the briefing. The inspection will last till April 13, and then Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office is going to decide if a legal action has to be initiated. Even President Viktor Yanukovych reacted by ordering Prime Minister Mykola Azarov to increase the expenses for the upkeep of the remanded at pre-trial detention centers. The journalist’s film portrayed the inhuman conditions, in which people were kept, and the abusive exercise of power by the SIZO staff.
We are talking about the consequences of the investigation with TVi channel journalist, Kostiantyn USOV.
What were your first impressions of what you saw, the materials sent to you by the remanded people?
“Since I have been working on covering our law enforcement structures activities for a few years now, I had a rough idea about what the cells look like, and what they should look like. But the night I received the first video, I remember watching it over and over again, and I could not believe my eyes. I could not even imagine that people were kept like animals, considering the fact that they were not even sentenced yet, they were just waiting for their court decisions. And those decisions could still prove them to be not guilty.”
Can you comment on the Lukianivsky SIZO acting head’s removal?
“This fact should not be underestimated. He has worked at this establishment for a very long time, he was an ‘everlasting deputy head.’ This person outlasted many heads and sometimes even was more powerful than a head of SIZO. We have talked to a great number of the remanded during the preparation of the investigation. They, and also some SIZO workers, especially the ones you can see in the film, openly said that this person was a significant source of the most serious, outrageous, and inhuman violations and abusive actions in the detention center.
“The film contains an interview with senior officer, SIZO detective Petro Berezovsky. He said that it was Dombrovsky who started putting wealthy people to cells, in which horrible living conditions were created artificially. This was done to make rich people arrange their transfer to better and more comfortable cells.
“If SIZO can be viewed as a huge business (and according to some estimates, shadow money turnover at Lukianivsky Pre-Trial Detention Center reaches one and a half million hryvnias per week), then it is Dombrovsky who is responsible for what was happening there. It is also important that immediately after the film was aired, the cabinet of ministers assigned 1.5 million hryvnias (even though it was backdated) for the cells maintenance.
“This is a huge step forward. I reassure, that if the publicity, journalists, and us started following this topic, we are going to control the way this money is going to be spent. This is only the beginning for the positive outcomes. We hope and have reasons to believe that this explosion within the system is going to cause its significant change. There would be no other possible way to force this ‘dead’ problem to move from the dead point.”
How serious is the government’s intention to deal with this situation?
“This story goes far beyond the Lukianivsky SIZO. Prison service is just a part of the huge prosecutorial, judicial mayhem system that breaks up meetings, robs businessmen, and sells freedom. I think that the active systematic work of the public, institutions of the civic society, and journalists, of course, will change a lot of things. The changes in the Lukianivsky SIZO are just the beginning. I believe in it.”
