права дитини

The defendant, a boy under the age of 18 (juvenile: 16-18 years), committed lewd acts against a girl under the age of 14 (minor). The first-instance court imposed a punishment of five years imprisonment (Part 2 of Article 156 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - Criminal Code). However, the court of first instance released the defendant from serving a sentence and instead imposed a probationary period of two years (Articles 75, 104 of the Criminal Code). The Court of Appeal left the decision unchanged.

While intoxicated, the defendant committed lewd acts against a minor (under 14 years old) by forcing her to expose herself and photographing her naked. He also took the photographs, which were recognized as a pornographic product. According to the courts of the first and second instance, the illegal actions qualified as corruption of a minor (Article 156 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and the production of child pornography for which he was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment.

The appellant was convicted of debauchery for committing lewd acts against the victim, a girl under 14 years old. The first-instance court sentenced the defendant to five years of imprisonment and banned him for three years from continuing to volunteer at a children’s home. The appellate court left this decision unchanged. However, the Supreme Court changed the additional punishment, stating that courts may only impose such additional punishment if the commission of the crime was related to the perpetrator’s position or to engagement in certain activities.

In this report from JurFem, experts analyze the impact of martial law introduced in response to Russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine on access to justice for domestic violence victims, as well as the nuances of court examination for cases involving domestic violence amid the war. In January-June 2022, in 83% of cases, victims of domestic violence were women.

The applicant, a 16-year-old boy, was held in handcuffs and underwear in a police station for 2.5 hours and subsequently placed in a cell with adults. He was interviewed at a police station concerning a murder, rape, and robbery investigation. According to the applicant, under this pressure, he confessed to murder. Domestic courts convicted the applicant of robbery and aggravated murder, and sentenced him to 13 years’ imprisonment. The court rejected the applicant’s argument that his confessions were inadmissible because they had been obtained under duress.

In the report, the experts drew attention to the fact that only 15% of law enforcement officers identify child witnesses as victims of domestic violence.

The first applicant and her husband divorced in 2017. Their children lived with the first applicant. The applicant claimed that her ex-husband had tried to force her to resume their relationship and behaved aggressively towards her and their sons. Then he took away their son (the second applicant) without the first applicant’s consent, refused to return him for about four months, and tried to kidnap their second son. The first applicant immediately contacted the police.

This case was initiated by nine citizens of Somalia, Eritrea, and Guinea, who for various reasons left their countries of origin and were detained by border guards of Ukraine while trying to cross Ukraine’s border with Hungary and Slovakia. Among the applicants was a pregnant underage girl (the eighth applicant) who had been repeatedly abused, humiliated, and beaten by her husband in Guinea. As a result, she had suffered a miscarriage during a previous pregnancy while in Guinea.

The plaintiff sued the defendant, his ex-wife, to exclude him from the child's birth certificate and to terminate his child support payments. According to the plaintiff, there was no blood relationship between him and the child. The court ordered a genetic examination was ordered to establish paternity. However, the defendant refused to conduct it and evaded taking biological samples from the child.

The ex-husband (the defendant) systematically committed domestic violence against the complainant – his ex-wife: beating her, threatening to kill her and the children and to burn down the building where she was living with the children). For his illegal behavior (systematic domestic violence), he was jailed for four months (this type of punishment involves keeping a person in isolation for 1-6 months).