Human rights impact of the provisions of article 176.5 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine

On 7 October 2014, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted a law amending, inter alia, article 176 “General provisions on measures of restraint” of the Criminal Procedure Code. Despite availability of a variety of other measures of restraint (i.e. personal recognizance, personal guarantee, bail and house arrest), the amendment prescribed that no other measure of restraint but pre-trial detention can be applied to individuals charged with crimes against national security and a number of crimes against public security. The way Ukrainian courts apply this provision contradicts the international human rights standards related to liberty of person and prohibition of arbitrary detention. In particular, judges dealing with conflict-related criminal cases do not duly assess the elements required to be met for application of a measure of restraint but instead apply pre-trial detention as the only available measure of restraint without giving due consideration to less intrusive alternatives that would effectively mitigate the risks of flight, interference with evidence or recurrence of the crime.