http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/imagecache/news-highlight/56428_Riot_police_officers_guard_the_Ukrainian_presidential_administration_building_in_Kiev(1).jpg
Amnesty International has documented Ukraine's actions and challenges remaining to eradicate police torture.
The Ukrainian authorities must make real progress towards eliminating torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement officials in line with the country’s international obligations, Amnesty International said ahead of the signing of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.
"Irrespective of the future of the Association Agreement with Ukraine, the EU must go on pushing Ukraine to comply with its international obligations. Ukraine is an important member of the European and international community.
The country’s authorities have voluntarily signed up to all major international human rights agreements – the absolute ban on torture among them," said Heather McGill, Ukraine researcher at Amnesty International.
The Association Agreement offers enhanced cooperation in trade, energy, banking and many other areas, and is based on common values, including "democracy and rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, [and] good governance".
The EU had made the eradication of "selective justice" a pre-requisite for signing the agreement on 28 November in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, which currently holds the EU Presidency. It is expected that the Ukrainian authorities will allow Yuliya Tymoshenko, the imprisoned former prime minister and leader of the opposition party All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland", to travel to Germany for treatment for a back injury.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/or-without-eu-agreement-ukraine-must-eradicate-torture-2013-11-19
Signing "international human rights agreements" and honoring them are two different things. Eliminating "selective justice" may have been too big a hurdle for Ukraine's leaders. It is doubtful that Putin is insisting that this be eliminated.
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