6.  The first, second and third applicants were born in 1981, 1973 and 1984 respectively. Since 2004 they have been serving life sentences in correctional colonies in Ukraine.
7.  On 11 July 2003 the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Code on the Execution of Sentences of Ukraine (“the Code”). Article 150 of the Code (“Place of serving life imprisonment”) provided that life prisoners were to serve their sentences in maximum-security correctional colonies. Article 151 (“Procedure for, and conditions of, the execution and serving of life sentences”) further provided, inter alia, that life prisoners were entitled to one short visit every six months. No reference to prisoners’ gender was made in those Articles. At the same time, Article 18 (“Correctional colonies”) provided that female life prisoners were to serve their sentences in medium-security colonies. In turn, Article 139 (“Medium-security correctional colonies”) provided that prisoners serving their sentences in such colonies were entitled, inter alia, to have one short visit every month and one long visit every three months. Article 110 specified that a short visit from relatives or other persons could last for up to four hours and a long visit from close relatives could last for up to three days.
8.  By a letter of 27 June 2007 the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Sentences informed the second applicant, in reply to a letter sent by him on an earlier date, that female life prisoners were entitled to have one long visit every three months, as provided by Article 139 of the Code, given that they served their sentences in medium-security colonies, as provided by Article 18 of the Code. Referring, in particular, to Article 151 of the Code, the Department further stated that male life prisoners were entitled to have one short visit every six months and that they were not entitled to have long visits.
9.  On 21 January 2010 the Code was amended (“the 2010 amendments”). Article 150, as amended, stated that persons sentenced to life imprisonment were to serve their sentences as follows: male prisoners ‑ either in maximum-security sectors of medium-security correctional colonies or in maximum-security correctional colonies; and female prisoners – either in medium-security sectors of minimum-security correctional colonies with general conditions of detention or in medium-security correctional colonies. Article 151, as amended, stated that life prisoners were entitled to one short visit every three months. A newly introduced Article 151² (“Specifics regarding the serving of sentences by female life prisoners”) provided that female life prisoners were to be placed, as a rule, in medium-security sectors of minimum-security colonies with general conditions of detention. It also provided that female life prisoners were to be subject to the regime laid down for prisoners held in medium‑security colonies (that is, the regime provided for in Article 139 of the Code).
10.  By the Law of 8 April 2014 on the introduction of amendments to the Code relating to the adaptation of status of convicted persons to European standards the Code was amended again (“the 2014 amendments”). Article 151 was amended to entitle all life prisoners to one short visit every month and one long visit every three months regardless of the type of correctional colony in which they were detained or the security regime to which they were subject.
11.  Further amendments to Article 151 of the Code, which were passed by Parliament on 7 September 2016, entitled all life prisoners to one long visit every two months.
12.  The first applicant stated that he and his family had wished to maintain their relationships, but as the result of the absence of the right to long visits until 2014 he had had to divorce his wife. His father, grandfather and grandmother had died in 2008, 2009 and 2014 respectively and he had not been able to see them while serving his sentence. The Government submitted that while serving his sentence the first applicant had received twenty-eight short visits on unspecified dates and fifteen long visits (between 17 March 2015 and 6 July 2018) from his new wife, mother and his other grandmother.
13.  The second applicant stated that, because of the lack of the opportunity to have long visits until 2014, he had lost contact with his family. His relatives had died – in particular he referred to his father having died in 2012 – and when the 2014 amendments entitled him to long visits, there had no longer been anyone to visit him. The Government submitted that while serving his sentence the second applicant had had one short visit in 2005 (from his sister) and had not requested any long visits.
14.  The third applicant stated that, in the absence of the right to long visits until 2014, his right to found a family had been more declaratory than effective as, in particular, he had not been able to have any physical contact in order to conceive children. The Government submitted that while serving his sentence the third applicant had had twelve short visits (between 25 July 2012 and 26 December 2017) and fourteen long visits (between 5 August 2014 and 6 February 2018) from his wife, mother, father and friends.