The European Court of Human Rights

UKRAINE, Kiev. More than 9,000 complaints filed by Ukrainian prisoners are pending at the European Court of Human Rights. The number of the complaints has increased fivefold since the early 2000s.

Prisoners complain of the dragged-out judicial process, torture during interrogations and poor conditions in pre-trial detention and prisons. Almost 20,000 people are currently held in pre-trial detention without charge. Because of severe overcrowding prisoners are often unable to find space to write a letter of appeal.

Ukrainian President's Administration told PRIMA-News correspondent on 12 May that in the last three months they had received some 150,000 letters addressed to Victor Yushchenko. In some 37,500 of them people complained about arbitrariness of courts and law enforcement agencies. Ukrainian President ordered Prosecutor General's Office and Interior Ministry to reduce the number of people in pre-trial detention by 50% through amnesty or pardon.