User:K.e.coffman/sandbox#Torture

File:A peaceful demonstration in Kharkiv during the 2004 Orange Revolution.jpg during the 2004 Orange Revolution]]

Ukraine had been labeled as "free" by organizations such as Freedom House in 2009. In their report they stated: "Ukraine has one of the most vibrant civil societies in the region. Citizens are increasingly taking issues into their own hands, protesting against unwanted construction, and exposing corruption. There were no limits seen on NGO activities. Trade unions function, but strikes and worker protests were infrequently observed, even though dissatisfaction with the state of economic affairs was pervasive in the fall of 2008. Factory owners were seen as still able to pressure their workers to vote according to the owners’ preferences."

On 20 October 2009 experts from the Council of Europe stated "in the last five years the experts from the Council of Europe who monitor Ukraine have expressed practically no concerns regarding the important [process of the] formation of a civil society in Ukraine. Ukraine is one of the democratic states in Europe that is securing human rights as a national policy, as well as securing the rights of national minorities."{{cite news|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/experts-of-council-of-europe-have-no-remarks-to-uk-51015.html |title=Experts of Council of Europe have no remarks to Ukraine concerning rights and freedom of citizens |work=Kyiv Post |date=20 October 2009 |access-date=4 October 2015}} According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), "while civil society institutions operate mostly without government interference, police abuse and violations of the rights of vulnerable groups … continue to mar Ukraine's human rights record."{{cite web|url=http://hrw.org/englishwr2k7/docs/2007/01/11/ukrain14835.htm|title=Ukraine: Events of 2006|publisher=Human Rights Watch|year=2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070116150453/http://hrw.org/englishwr2k7/docs/2007/01/11/ukrain14835.htm|archive-date=16 January 2007}}

In Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index 2010 Ukraine had fallen from 89th place to 131.{{cite web|url=http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2010,1034.html |title=Press Freedom Index 2010 |work=Reporters Without Borders |date=20 October 2010 |access-date=4 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124050702/http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2010%2C1034.html |archive-date=24 November 2010 |df=dmy-all }} Neighboring Russia's press freedom was ranked at position 140.{{cite web|url=http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1287564247|title=Ukraine's Press Freedom Index rating falls steeply|publisher=Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group|date=10 October 2010|access-date=4 October 2010}} The International Federation for Human Rights called Ukraine "one of the countries seeing the most serious violations against human rights activists" in December 2011.{{cite news|url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/report-ukraine-among-states-with-worst-human-right-118917.html|title=Report: Ukraine among states with worst human rights records|work=Kyiv Post|date=14 December 2011|access-date=4 October 2015}}

As of 17 January 2013 Ukraine lost all of its 211 cases at the European Court of Human Rights.{{cite news|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2013/01/17/6981673/|script-title=uk:Україна програла 11 мільйонів за день|trans-title=Ukraine lost 11 million in a day|work=Ukrayinska Pravda|language=uk|date=17 January 2013|access-date=4 October 2015}}

{{main|Judiciary of Ukraine}}

Amendments to the constitution, which came into force, were detrimental for fair trial in that they re-introduced the so-called general supervision by the prosecutor's office. Other serious problems included lengthy periods for review of cases because the courts were overloaded; infringement of equality of arms; non-observance of the presumption of innocence; the failure to execute court rulings; and high level of corruption in courts.{{cite web|url=http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/469399ccd.pdf|title=International Helsinki Federation Annual Report on Human Rights Violations (2007): Ukraine|work=ihf-hr.org|publisher=refworld.org|date= 27 March 2007|access-date=18 April 2016}} Independent lawyers and human rights activists have complained Ukrainian judges regularly come under pressure to hand down a certain verdict.{{cite news|author=Richard Balmforth|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-justice-idUSBRE83809L20120409|title=Insight: In Ukraine, scales of justice often imbalanced|work=Reuters|date=9 April 2012|access-date=4 October 2015}}

{{See also|Freedom of the press in Ukraine}}

In 2007, in Ukraine's provinces numerous, anonymous attacks{{cite web|url=http://en.rsf.org/ukraine-local-newspaper-editor-badly-31-03-2010,36900 |title=Local newspaper editor badly injured in assault |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |date=31 March 2010 |access-date=4 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001051756/http://en.rsf.org/ukraine-local-newspaper-editor-badly-31-03-2010%2C36900 |archive-date=1 October 2015 |df=dmy-all }} and threats persisted against journalists, who investigated or exposed corruption or other government misdeeds.{{cite web|url=http://en.rsf.org/ukraine-disturbing-deterioration-in-press-15-04-2010,37027.html |title=Disturbing deterioration in press freedom situation since new president took over |work=Reporters Without Borders |date=15 April 2010 |access-date=4 October 2015}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20110120224057/http://www.kyivpost.com/news/politics/detail/64793/ Media crackdown under way?], Kyiv Post (22 April 2010) The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists concluded in 2007 that these attacks, and police reluctance in some cases to pursue the perpetrators, were "helping to foster an atmosphere of impunity against independent journalists."{{cite book|url=https://www.hrw.org/node/258888|title=Ukraine: Events of 2008|date=13 January 2009 |publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=3 October 2015}}

Ukraine's ranking in Reporters Without Borders's Press Freedom Index has in the latest years been around the 90th spot (89 in 2009,{{cite web|url=http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2009,1001.html |title=Press Freedom Index 2009 |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |year=2009 |access-date=4 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930230930/http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2009%2C1001.html |archive-date=30 September 2015 |df=dmy-all }} 87 in 2008{{cite web |url=http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2008,33.html |title=Press Freedom Index 2008 |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |year=2008 |access-date=4 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007012918/http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2008,33.html |archive-date=7 October 2015 |url-status=dead }}), while it occupied the 112th spot in 2002{{cite web|url=http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2002,297.html |title=Press Freedom Index 2002 |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |year=2002 |access-date=4 October 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007025235/http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2002%2C297.html |archive-date=7 October 2015 |df=dmy-all }} and even the 132nd spot in 2004.{{cite web |url=http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2004,550.html |title=Press Freedom Index 2004 |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |year=2004 |access-date=4 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220014259/http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-index-2004,550.html |archive-date=20 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}

A May 2014 report from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) stated that there were approximately 300 instances of violent attacks on the media in Ukraine since November 2013.{{cite news|author=Michael Shields|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-media-idUSBREA4M0IB20140523|title=Ukraine media freedom under attack: OSCE|date=23 May 2014|access-date=4 October 2015|work=Reuters}} A crackdown on what authorities describe as "pro-separatist" points of view has triggered dismay among Western human rights monitors. For example, the 11 September 2014 shutdown of {{Interlanguage link multi|Vesti (Ukrainian newspaper)|qid=Q16694375|lt=Vesti}} newspaper by the Ukrainian Security Service for "violating Ukraine's territorial integrity" brought swift condemnation from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.{{cite web|author=Fred Weir|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/0921/Crackdown-in-Ukraine-sullies-its-democratic-aspirations|title=Crackdown in Ukraine sullies its democratic aspirations|date=21 September 2014|access-date=4 October 2015|work=The Christian Science Monitor}}{{#tag:ref|Former Vesti News's editor-in-chief {{Interlanguage link multi|Igor Guzhva|ru|3=Гужва, Игорь Анатольевич}} wrote on his Facebook page that the news outlet had been raided by Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The SBU reportedly took all servers, kept staffers in a "hot corridor" and shut down the website completely. Guzhva said that the purpose of the raid was "to block our work." "Journalists are not being let into their office", Guzhva wrote. "Those who were already inside at the moment of the raid are being kept in the building and are not allowed to use cell phones." Guzhva said that this is the second time in just six months that the SBU has tried to "intimidate" its editors. He added that he is unsure of the reason for the raid, but suspects that it might have to do with a story the website recently published on the SBU chief's daughter.{{cite web|author=Catherine Taibi|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/11/ukraine-news-raid-vesti-kiev-website-media_n_5805642.html|title=Ukraine Security Services Break Into Newspaper Office, Shut Down Website|date=9 November 2014|access-date=4 October 2015|work=HuffPost}}|group=nb}}

Amnesty International has appealed for the release of Ukrainian journalist Ruslan Kotsababy and declared him a prisoner of conscience.{{#tag:ref|On 10 February 2015, Amnesty International reported that a Ukrainian journalist, {{Interlanguage link multi|Ruslan Kotsaba|qid=Q19326727}}, was accused and arrested by Ukrainian authorities for "treason and obstructing the military" in reaction to his statement that he would rather go to prison than be drafted by the Ukrainian Army. If found guilty he could potentially can face up to 15 year prison sentence. Amnesty International has appealed to Ukrainian authorities to free him immediately and declared Kotsaba a prisoner of conscience. Tetiana Mazur, director of Amnesty International in Ukraine stated that "the Ukrainian authorities are violating the key human right of freedom of thought, which Ukrainians stood up for on the Maidan." In response the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) declared that they have found "evidence of serious crimes" but declined to elaborate.{{cite news|author=Shaun Walker|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/10/ukraine-draft-dodgers-jail-kiev-struggle-new-fighters|title=Ukraine: draft dodgers face jail as Kiev struggles to find new fighters|work=The Guardian|date=11 February 2015|access-date=4 October 2015}}|group=nb}}

{{Further|War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine#Ill-treatment, torture and willful killing of civilians|Humanitarian situation during the war in Donbas#Abductions and torture|Russian torture chambers in Ukraine|Secret detention centers of SBU}}

{{main|HIV/AIDS in Ukraine}}

The Ukrainian government has taken a number of positive steps to fight HIV/AIDS, chiefly in the area of legislative and policy reform. But these important commitments are being undermined in the criminal justice and health systems by widespread human rights abuses against drug users, sex workers, and people living with HIV/AIDS.

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