The offender (the man was older than 18 years) repeatedly raped a girl under 14 years of age. The court of first instance sentenced him to nine years in prison (isolation for a certain period of time in a closed-type penal institution). When determining the sentence, the court took into account what it considered to be mitigating circumstances, namely: (i) sincere remorse; (ii) partial payment of damages; (iii) admission of guilt; (iv) no prior criminal record.
The mother of minors (the plaintiff) had been convicted for committing a criminal offense. After serving her sentence, the plaintiff asked the child services agency to return her children to her; their grandmother had been appointed as their guardian as a way of protecting the rights and interests of the children. According to the plaintiff, after her release she got a job and a room in a dormitory, and she wanted to be allowed to raise her children on her own.
The plaintiff asked the court for a restraining order to protect herself and a child she had with her ex-husband (the defendant). According to her, the defendant would often resort to insulting her, using physical force on her in the presence of a small child (allegation supported by a forensic expert’s report), using obscene language regarding her, and systematically engaging in psychological violence that involved intimidation and stalking of her and their child.
The spouses were officially divorced. The appellant (the father) sued the defendant, his ex-wife, to remove obstacles to communication with his child and his participation in the child’s upbringing, as well as to determine the method of his involvement in the child’s upbringing. According to the appellant, after their divorce the defendant started trying to prevent him from fulfilling his parental duties and to turn the child against the appellant.
The plaintiff filed an administrative lawsuit against the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, asking to cancel paragraph 3 of the Medico-Biological and Socio-Psychological Guidelines for the Change (Correction) of Gender Identity adopted by the Ministry’s Order No. 60 dated 3 February 2011 (Order No. 60), specifically the part that lists the presence of children under the age of 18 and serious problems with social adaptation (unemployment, absence of permanent residence, etc.) as arguments for denying the procedure.
The Prevention of Domestic Violence Law allows the court to issue an order for the protection of an individual from a family member who has used violence or committed a sexual offense against that individual or based on past behavior which included physical danger to the individual. Except in the case of unusual circumstances and reasons that must be noted by the court in writing, the court is not allowed to reject the request for a protection order without a hearing in which the applicant or their representative can argue the applicant’s case.
Article 4 (A/1) requires education, health, and social service providers (whether private or public sector) to report known or reported cases of domestic violence to the Juvenile and Family Protection Department. The obligation to report such cases (regardless of the consent of the victim) is in part mitigated by Article 4 (B) which guarantees the protection of victims by forbidding disclosure of their identities unless required by judicial procedures. The Law goes on to grant the police rights in relation to actual or suspected cases of violence or abuse.
The criminal provision governing human trafficking, Article 240 (“trafficking in women or children”), defines it as abducting, kidnapping, buying, trafficking or transporting women for sale. The prescribed sentence ranges from 5-0 years.
