Source: http://eng.ombudsmandnr.ru/pravovoy-likbez/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 15:45:25+00:00

Document:
In the Donetsk People’s Republic, great attention is paid to the support of vulnerable groups of the population, including disabled persons, who are entitled to pension under the DPR legislation.
Currently, there are 2695 people with disabilities living in the Republic, of which 1385 have visual impairment category 1 and 1310 have visual impairment category 2, for whom it is challenging to put a handwritten signature on various types of documents, and, in particular, on documents confirming the receipt of pensions. Due to their health issues, most people with disabilities are unable to properly testify the fact of receiving social payments.
In this regard, the DPR Human Rights Ombudsman clarifies that in accordance with the Guidelines on payment and delivery for pensions, social benefits by the national postal operator, approved by order of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Ukraine, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of Ukraine dated April 28, 2009 No. 464/156, as well as a decree of the Pension Fund of Ukraine dated April 28, 2009 (which is temporarily in force in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic), if a pension recipient cannot put their own hand-written signature in records confirming receipt of pension due to health issues, the said entity authorizes another person to sign the papers in his/her presence (however, except for employees of medical institutions, Pension Fund bodies, staff of labor and social protection bodies, and communication workers). At the same time, the column “Signature of the recipient” indicates “…signed on behalf of the recipient”, after which the relevant data of the person who put his/her signature in the paper (the name and initials, registration (residence), passport number series, or the number of other identity document).
In addition, the Notaries Act of the Donetsk People’s Republic dated December 21, 2018 No. 08-IINS provides for the right of notaries, consular officers and designated officials of local self-government bodies of the Donetsk People’s Republic to attest the identity of the visually impaired person’s hand-written signature with facsimile reproduction of his/her own signature (paragraph 21 of part 1 of article 43, paragraph 9 of part 2 of article 44, paragraph 12 of part 1 of article 45, article 94 of the aforementioned Law).
Thus, notaries of the Donetsk People’s Republic attest the identity of the handwritten signature of a visually impaired person with the facsimile reproduction of their handwritten signature in the event that this category of persons needs to carry out various legal operations.
It should be noted that the system of state-guaranteed support for visually impaired people, which facilitates for overcoming, substitution (compensating) restrictions related to health condition, provides for the possibility of receiving pensions, other social payments, as well as various legal operations. Meanwhile, the mechanism that allows for exercising of the rights and freedoms of this category of citizens includes additional safety measures aimed at avoiding the possibility of abuse of their rights and freedoms by other persons due to their health condition.
The Human Rights Ombudsman in the Donetsk People’s Republic continues to receive requests from persons convicted before the conflict regarding the transfer to the territory of Ukraine to continue serving their sentences.
We hereby clarify that the transfer of convicts is carried out under the Decree of the Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic of 12.11.2015 No. 424 “On the transfer of convicted prisoners, who are under custody in penitentiary institutions of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and criminal files, kept in the courts and investigative bodies of the Donetsk People’s Republic, to Ukraine”.
Despite the unilateral character of the transfer of convicts, the Donetsk People’s Republic prepares lists of persons to be transferred, following the established procedure. The lists are being compiled by the State Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Donetsk People’s Republic based on the requests from convicts.
Having received the relevant information, the Ombudsman organizes the transfer of convicts and their criminal files, kept in the courts and investigative bodies of the Donetsk People’s Republic, to Ukraine.
those who filed the appropriate request with the State Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 43 of the Civil Code of Ukraine (as revised in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic), a natural person can be recognized by the court as missing if there hasn’t been any information about their whereabouts at their place of permanent residence during one year.
The procedure for issuing a declaration of absence has been established by Art. 246, 248, 249 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine (as revised in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic).
The statement for issuing a declaration of absence is filed with the court at the applicant’s place of residence or at the last known place of residence (stay) of an individual whose whereabouts are unknown, or at the location of his/her property.
– circumstances of disappearance of the missing person, or circumstances that were dangerous to their life, or circumstances giving reason to assume his/her death from a certain accident.
According to paragraph 10 of Part 1 of Art. 4 of the Law of the Donetsk People’s Republic of 03.20.2015 No. 26-INS “On Court Fees” the application filed with the court must be paid in the amount of 400 Russian rubles.
2) requests the relevant organizations at the last place of residence of the missing person (housing maintenance organizations, internal affairs bodies or local government bodies) and their last place of work about any information available on an individual whose whereabouts are unknown.
After the entry into force of a court decision recognizing a person as missing, a notary registers the property belonging to the missing person and appoints guardianship for the care of his/her property at the last place of residence, in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 44 of the Civil Code of Ukraine. It should be noted that the court takes measures through the guardianship and custody bodies on establishing guardianship over the property of the physical person, whose whereabouts are unknown if the custody of the property has not been established yet (Part 2 of Article 248 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine). And such guardianship can be established before the court makes a decision on the application to the notary of the interested person or the guardianship and trusteeship body, according to part 2 of Art. 44 of the Civil Code of Ukraine.
For further advice regarding the norms of the current legislation, citizens may approach the Public Reception of the DPR Human Rights Ombudsman Office at the address: 34 Pushkina blvd., room 101.
The court has rejected my request for parole. After what time can I re-apply to the court with a similar petition, if there were 10 months left at the time of the refusal?
According to the provisions of Part 5, Art. 434 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Donetsk People’s Republic of 24.08.2018 No. 240-INS, if the court rejects the conditional release of a convicted person or commutation to lighter sentence of unserved portion of a sentence, the resubmission of such a request by persons convicted of grave crimes to imprisonment for a period of not less than five years, may take place no earlier than one year from the date of the court decision, and no earlier than six months for those convicted for other crimes and juvenile convicts. Unfortunately, the crime you had been sentenced for has not been specified in your question, and therefore, the Ombudsman cannot provide a more specific explanation to your situation.
In July 2018, the court issued a court order to recover my household debt for the supplied heat in favour of SE “Donetskteploset”. I became aware of the above court order only in January 2019. I was not present at the court session, and I do not agree with this court decision. How can I vacate it?
A court order is a special form of judicial decision, delivered by the courts on the basis of the application of the plaintiff. Consideration of this application is carried out in absentia of the debtor.
Articles 95 and 96 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine as revised in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic by virtue of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Donetsk People’s Republic of 02.06.2014 No. 9-1 “On application of the Law in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic during the transition period” (as amended and supplemented). It specifies the grounds on which a court order may be issued.
– if there is a request on an amount of money spent for non-conforming goods, provided that there is a court decision that has entered into legal force establishing the fact that non-conforming goods had been sold, rendered in favour of an indefinite number of consumers.
Thus, the recovery of debt on utility payments can be court-ordered.
In the view to protect the rights and interests of the debtor, who was court-ordered to recover the debt for utilities, there is a procedure for appealing and vacating a court order.
A debtor who has received a court order for the recovery of payment has the right to file an application in due order to vacate it within 10 days from the date of its receipt. The day of receipt of the court order is deemed to be the day of actual receipt of a copy of the court order or the date of putting a mark in the postal notification of the refusal of the debtor to receive a copy of the court order or a record of the absence of the debtor at the indicated address. An application for vacation of a court order is submitted to the court that issued it.
An application for the vacation of a court order must be considered by a judge within 10 days from the moment of accepting it.
Based on the above, we recommend that you apply to the court that issued the court order with the appropriate application for its vacation.
Please note that the vacation of a court order does not discharge the debtor from proving his non-indebtedness, since the plaintiff may later file another claim with the court.
I live in Belgorod, Russian Federation. I am searching for my son, who left to Donetsk in March 2016 and has not been in contact with me since that time. Please tell me where to turn for help.
In addition, the DPR Human Rights Ombudsman keeps the record of missing persons. You may contact the Ombudsman through hotline (+38071-301-73-52) in order to add your son in the list of missing persons in the DPR.
Under Part 1 of Art. 53 of the Law of the Donetsk People’s Republic of 20.02.2015 No. 12-INS “On Forensic Expert Activities”, a number of forensic examinations, including DNA tests, are carried out in state forensic institutions. Now, the Republican Bureau of Forensic Medicine of the Ministry of Health of the DPR is working on genotyping of the remains of unidentified bodies and their subsequent identification wherever there are blood samples from direct relatives of wanted persons for comparative analysis.
Based on the above, in order to exclude the possibility that your son is in the list of unidentified individuals who died as a result of hostilities, you may approach the Republican Bureau of Forensic Medicine at the following address: 14 Ilicha Str., Donetsk, block 9 (phone: +38-099-229-30-90; +38-071-326-15-93, Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 15:00). You have to download, print and fill in a questionnaire at the official website of the Ministry of Health of DPR, which will be necessary for the Republican Bureau of Forensic Medicine.
In the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, there is a public organization United Donbass Foundation, which provides assistance to Donbass citizens in difficult life circumstances.
Citizens who have the status of a war disabled veteran (except from persons who had served in OUN and UPA).
Persons in difficult life circumstances (that fall into more than one category, have housing destroyed as a result of hostilities, have illnesses).
— copy of documents proving facts and arguments stated in the application.
The applicant can send the set of documents (scanned application and documents) via email (info@gum-centr.su) or through any post office of the state enterprise Pochta Donbassa.
The Fund’s Commission considers each application separately and then collectively decides on the amount of payment or the type of assistance, so it is highly recommended that you describe the complexity of your situation in the application and prove it with the appropriate documents.
In case you have difficulties while filling in the form for the aforesaid assistance, you may approach the Public Reception of the DPR Human Rights Ombudsman at the address: 34 Pushkina blvd., Donetsk, room 101, Monday to Friday from 10 am to 1 pm.
According to Article 17 of the Interim Order on Enforcement Proceedings of the Donetsk People’s Republic, approved by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Donetsk People’s Republic of 31.05.2016 No. 7-37 (hereinafter referred to as the Order), enforcement action is carried out by the State Executive Service on the basis of enforcement documents. The bodies of the State Executive Service, which are part of the system of the Ministry of Justice of the Donetsk People’s Republic, are responsible for implementation of enforcement documents.
Execution of the court decision on visitation arrangements for one of the parents and the child is classified as execution of the decision, under which the debtor is obliged to personally perform certain actions or refrain from taking them.
General conditions for the implementation of decisions of this type are defined in Article 73 of the Procedure. In line with the aforementioned provision, after opening of an enforcement proceeding based on an enforcement document, obliging the debtor to perform certain actions, the state executor checks the execution of the decision. In the case of non-implementation of the court decision without good reason, the government executive imposes a penalty on the debtor and establishes a new deadline. In the case of a repeated non-implementation of the decision by the debtor without good reason, the government executive imposes a double penalty on him/her and turns to law enforcement bodies with a view to bringing the debtor to criminal responsibility in line with the legislation.
Thus, you need to contact the State Executive Service office at the place of residence of the former wife on the issue of implementation of this court decision. In case of non-fulfilment of the requirements of the state executive within the framework of the enforcement proceeding, the debtor will be subject to the above sanctions.
In this situation, you are entitled to obtain a permanent residence permit in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, which is a document proving your identity and confirming the right of a person to reside permanently in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, including receiving social benefits.
Undergo the identification procedure in accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPR No. 182. For this procedure, you must contact the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPR (local police station). There you will be asked to provide documents with photos that you have. In the absence of documents that can prove your identity, your relatives, neighbors or other persons (at least three) will be questioned. Based on their testimony, the act of identification is drawn up. The procedure is carried out during one month. If additional checks are necessary, the period is extended to two months.
Appeal to the court with a claim to confirm the fact of residence in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic as at 07.04.2014.
3) documents that confirm effecting of all payments established by law, or the original and a copy of the document on exemption from such payments.
The decision to issue or not to issue the permit is made within two months from the date of accepting the application. If additional checks are necessary, the period may be extended to three months.
other persons at the discretion of the Commission.
The material assistance is granted if the size of the average monthly total family income for the previous six months for each family member does not exceed five thousand two hundred rubles.
a certificate of family composition; a copy of work record book (if available).
other documents / certificates confirming that citizens are in difficult life circumstances (at the discretion of the Commission).
Please note that financial assistance in the amount of 1500 rubles is paid once every three months from the month of appeal per family, regardless of the number of persons in the family eligible for this assistance.
The material assistance is paid through the Central Republican Bank of the Donetsk People’s Republic and SE “Pochta Donbassa”.
According to Part 1 of Article 110 of the Criminal Executive Code of Ukraine (currently in force in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic by virtue of Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Donetsk People’s Republic No. 9-1 dated 02.06.2014), convicts have the right to short visits of up to four hours and extended visits – up to three days. Short visits with relatives or other persons are held in the presence of a colony representative. Extended visits come with the right to live together with close relatives only (spouses, parents, children, adoptive parents, adopted children, siblings, grandfather, grandmother, grandchildren). Extended visits may be granted to spouses who lived together but did not register their marriage, provided that they have common minor children. The cost of the use of rooms for short and extended visits is paid for by convicts or their relatives or other persons at their own expense.
Since you and your husband have children in common, you can file an application for extended visits with the administration of the correctional facility.
The procedure for the transfer of convicts who expressed the desire to serve their sentences in the territory of Ukraine is regulated by the Decree of the Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic of 12.11.2015 No. 424 “On the transfer of convicted prisoners, who are under custody in penitentiary institutions of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and criminal files, kept in the courts and investigative bodies of the Donetsk People’s Republic, to Ukraine”.
The State Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Donetsk People’s Republic compiles the list of persons who have expressed a desire to serve their sentences in correctional facilities in the territory of Ukraine, based on appropriate statements by convicts. This list is submitted to the Ministry of Justice of the Donetsk People’s Republic for the state bodies to carry out all necessary checks. Finally, the procedure is coordinated with the competent authorities of Ukraine.
Thus, the convict must personally submit a request for his transfer to a correctional facility in the territory of Ukraine to the Head of the State Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
In accordance with Articles 15, 17 of the Law of the Donetsk People’s Republic of April 3, 2015 No. 30-INS “On the Human Rights Ombudsman in the Donetsk People’s Republic”, the Ombudsman considers complaints against decisions or actions (omission) of state bodies, local governments, officials, civil servants, if the applicant had previously appealed against these decisions or actions (omission) in judicial or administrative proceedings, but does not agree with the decisions taken on his/her complaint.
The complaint must be filed with the Ombudsman no later than a year after the day when the violation of the rights and freedoms of the applicant occurred or after the day when he/she became aware of the violation.
if the action (omission) had been subject to judicial or administrative proceedings.
Complaints filed with the Ombudsman are not subject to state duty.
Complaints submitted by citizens’ representatives must be accompanied by documents proving their authority.
The text of the complaint must be readable. Complaints made by hand must be written in clear, legible handwriting and have no corrections. It is prohibited to use obscene or offensive words or expressions in the text of the complaints.
It is not within the competence of the DPR Ombudsman to verify the accounts of a crime being prepared or committed, including corruption.
Dear citizens of the Donetsk People’s Republic, in the view to raise legal awareness the DPR Ombudsman’s Office provides you with clarifications on basic terms and notions, the established fee and the procedure for its exemption established by the Law of the Donetsk People’s Republic of 20 March 2015 No. 26-INS “On Court Fees” as amended and supplemented.
Court fee is a fee paid in cash or non-cash purportedly to cover costs for filing claims, appeals and complaints with the court, and also charged by the courts following consideration of the case, and for issuing documents.
Court fee payers are individuals, stateless persons, enterprises, institutions, organizations, other legal entities (including foreign ones), state bodies, local governments, other bodies, officials, organizations that do not have legal personality status, as well as private entrepreneurs.
17) for making a copy of a digital audio recording of the court session – 60 rubles for one CD.
16) applications for the protection of the rights of minors or underage persons in the event that in accordance with the law or an international treaty they are represented in court by the Ministry of Justice of the Donetsk People’s Republic or by the guardianship and trusteeship bodies or children’s affairs offices.
21) plaintiffs – on claims for the protection of consumer rights.
Legislation of the Donetsk People’s Republic may provide for other instances of exemption from court fees.
On 9 December 2016, a Decree of the Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic No. 211 “On Approving the Procedure for granting material assistance in monetary terms to particular categories of citizens of the Donetsk People’s Republic” dated 09.12.2016 came into force.
Persons injured as a result of hostilities in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
The family includes: husband, wife, children and adopted children under the age of 18 (full-time students under the age of 23 unless they have their own family).
The family does not include persons on complete state provision.
The maximum monthly average total family income for the previous six months per each family member must not exceed 5,200.00 Russian rubles.
The amount of material assistance is 1,500 Russian rubles for the applicant’s family (if the applicant is single – for the applicant).
Material assistance is provided once every three months from the date of application.
Material assistance is paid at the cash department of the Central Republican Bank of the Donetsk People’s Republic and SE “Pochta Donbassa”.
For the purpose of legal education in the field of human and civil rights and freedoms, forms and methods of their protection, as well as raising the legal awareness of the population, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman in the Donetsk People’s Republic informs about changes in legislation related to the signing of the Law of Ukraine On Ratification of Protocols.
On 30 October 2017, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the Law On Ratification of Protocols No. 15 and No. 16 to the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. By signing this law, Ukraine, through its representatives, has expressed its consent to a number of amendments to the existing Convention.
One of the innovations is the reduced period of application to the European Court of Human Rights. In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 35 of the Convention, the ECHR can accept a matter for processing provided that a citizen has exhausted all national remedies, as provided for by the generally accepted norms of international law. Previously, the period of application was six months from the date of the final decision on the case by the national court. Currently, based on the adopted Protocol No. 15, the aforementioned period of application has been reduced to four months.
Based on the above, we bring these changes to the attention of citizens who have expressed a desire to apply for the protection of their rights and legitimate interests to the ECHR, since the preparation of relevant documents and the application is now to be done within a shorter period.
Obviously, the reduction of the period of application to the ECHR will affect the quality of preparation of applicants. The legal reasoning of the plaintiff, stated in the claim, must be motivated, reasoned and supported by evidence, the preparation of which takes much time. Subsequently, the number of citizens who are going to apply to the ECHR will decrease by several times due to the reduced four-month period for applying to the ECHR.
Another change imposed by Protocol No. 15 is related to relinquishment of jurisdiction to the Grand Chamber.
In accordance with Art. 30 of the Convention, where a case pending before a Chamber raises a serious question affecting the interpretation of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, or where the resolution of a question before the Chamber might have a result inconsistent with a judgment previously delivered by the Court, the Chamber (consisting of seven judges) may, at any time before it has rendered its judgment, relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber (consisting of seventeen judges), unless one of the parties to the case objects.
Earlier, a case could be referred to the Grand Chamber only in the case of mutual consent of the parties to the trial, and now, after the amendments made by Protocol No. 15, the relinquishment of jurisdiction does not require the consent of the plaintiff and the defendant and is at the discretion of the judges, which limits the expression of their will in this matter.
Protocol No. 16 to the Convention provides for the right of the High Courts and Tribunals of the High Contracting Party (Ukraine) to request from the ECHR advisory opinion on the principles relating to the interpretation or application of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Convention and its Protocols.
Part 2 of Art. 1 of Protocol No. 16 regulates that a court or tribunal requesting an advisory opinion may request such an opinion only in the context of the case before it.
In addition, this request must be motivated and include the necessary information, namely, the legal and factual circumstances of the case under consideration.
Also, in order to make a decision on whether or not to satisfy the request for an advisory opinion, a panel of five members of the Grand Chamber is formed.
It should be noted that the amendments will allow the national courts of Ukraine in the event of controversial issues in a particular case, to approach the ECHR for a reasoned explanation, based on the knowledge and experience of the international court.
Advisory opinions are explanatory by nature and are not binding, and therefore the application of the opinion is the right, and not the obligation of the court.
In our opinion, the ratified protocol will affect the quality of the work of the national courts of Ukraine in terms of issuing fair judgments.

References: Art. 246
 Art. 4
 Art. 44
 Art. 44
 Art. 434
 Art. 53
 Art. 35
 Art. 30
 Art. 1