UKRAINE: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST VOWS TO CARRY ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L KYIV 001200

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST VOWS TO CARRY ON
DEPITE ATTACK

REF: KYIV 989

Classified By: Acting PolCouns Robert Scott for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
.


1. (C) Summary and Comment: Dmytro Groisman, a prominent
Ukrainian human rights activist, told Emboff on June 12 that
he had recovered fully from a beating by unknown assailants
on May 23 (reftel). He suspected that he was attacked
because of his public criticism of Ukraine's State Penal
Department (SPD),which is responsible for running what he
called a closed, corrupt, and violent prison system. He
concluded that only independent monitoring could address the
problem in prisons and that the Humans Rights Ombudsman, Nina
Karpachova, criticized by most human rights groups, had made
reasonable efforts but was hamstrung by limited resources and
the lack of a clear legislative mandate.


2. (C) Groisman has been a fearless critic of the government
in the past and he appeared to be fully recovered and
undeterred by this attack. His claims of abuses in the
prison system are credible and we intend to follow this issue
closely. Although his positive assessment of the Ombudsman's
work is at odds with many of his peers, his contention that
many of Karpachova's critics have become too focused on
personal disagreements seems correct. End Summary and
Comment.

Recovered from Attack, Will Continue Work
--------------


3. (C) Dmytro Groisman, a prominent Ukrainian human rights
activist, told Emboffs on June 12 that he had recovered fully
from an attack by unknown assailants on May 23 (reftel). He
suspected that he was targeted for his highly critical
statements about Ukraine's State Penal Department. He
confirmed press reports that he was attacked after coming
home late at night by a stranger, who first asked him to
confirm his identity. When Groisman replied, the man
assaulted him and was quickly joined by another man waiting
outside. Groisman estimated the beating lasted a minute and
he believed that they only intended to scare him because they
could have easily inflicted more serious injuries. Groisman,
who did not recognize either of the men, later determined
that one of them came to his home a few days before the
attack posing as a relative of a prisoner. His family,
accustomed to strangers asking for assistance with human
rights issues, inadvertently provided the attackers with
details of Groisman's schedule. He said it was the first
time he was assaulted since beginning his work in 1993, but
that he was determined to continue advocating for human
rights. He seemed dismissive of police promises that they
would soon identify the attackers.

Highlights Prison Abuses
--------------


4. (C) Groisman described his efforts to highlight abuses
in prisons operated by the SPD, which he characterized as
closed, corrupt, and violent. He estimated that 3-5 percent
of prisoners were beaten regularly by other prisoners, with
the approval of prison authorities, to maintain order and
silence potential complaints. He said that more than 90
percent of prisons used "slave labor", forcing prisoners to
produce products sold at a profit by prisons. He said many
prison officials profited from this labor and that attorneys
assigned to prisons by the Prosecutor General's Office to
observe the rights of prisoners had been corrupted and had
become part of the problem. Contrary to other human rights
advocates in Ukraine, Groisman believed that conditions in
prisons are worse than in pretrial detention facilities and
police temporary holding facilities because the short term
facilities are more accessible by NGOs as well as the
detainees' families and defense lawyers. He said prisons
holding convicted criminals were the least accessible to
monitoring.


5. (C) Groisman felt that the government was obligated to
provide independent monitoring of prisons and access to free
legal counseling for prisoners who wish to file complaints.
He said that the office of the Human Rights Commissioner,
currently headed by Ombudsman Nina Karpachova, was not set up
to address everyday problems faced by most prisoners, but was
intended to intervene in extraordinary cases. Acknowledging
that his views of Karpachova differed from most of his peers,
Groisman described good working relations with her and was
generally positive about her work. He felt that too many
human rights groups had personalized their criticism of
Karpachova while the real problem remained the lack of
resources and an effective legislative mandate for the
Ombudsman's office. Groisman described incidents involving

complaints from prisons in Vinnytsya and Lviv Oblasts, which
he had made public. In both cases, the SPD denied the
allegations, but in private Karpachova confided that her
office confirmed most of the allegations and had taken
corrective actions. He claimed that she asked Groisman to
stay silent about her findings and follow up to see if the
problems had been addressed. Groisman, who confided that it
was personally difficult to not respond to the SPD denials,
kept silent and later was able to confirm that conditions in
these prisons had improved, as claimed by Karpachova.


6. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
TAYLOR