Igor Kotelianets, head of the NGO ‘Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners,’ held a working meeting with Oleksii Riabikin, Deputy Minister of Community, Territory and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, Yelyzaveta Stepanets, Director of the Department for Internally Displaced Persons and Persons Affected by Armed Aggression, Yelyzaveta Stepanets, and other representatives of the Ministry.

The meeting was constructive and focused on establishing cooperation to support survivors of illegal imprisonment and their families. The parties agreed to coordinate their efforts to make the Commission's work on establishing the fact of deprivation of liberty more effective and understandable for applicants.

Key topics of the meeting included:

- Resource challenges in the Commission's work: resource support through the involvement of the public and international partners.

- Involvement of civil society organisations to strengthen the Commission's work.

- Cooperation with the Ministry to conduct a public review of the Commission's activities as a tool for public participation in shaping public policy.

- Informing applicants: the need to improve access to communication channels, transparency of rejection letters and explanations of the reasons for decisions.

- Expert and training assistance to Commission members for the analysis of complex cases and the exchange of human rights practices.

- Deadlines for consideration of applications and payments: updating the problem of exceeding the 30-day deadline for consideration of applications, delays in payments of financial assistance, non-payment of Levko Lukyanenko scholarships.

Igor Kotelianets emphasised:

"We see our role in supporting the Ministry of Development through our professional experience and feedback from beneficiaries. It is important for us that the Commission becomes an effective and understandable mechanism, and that people who have survived illegal imprisonment can count on a quick and fair consideration of their applications and receive appropriate assistance."

The NGO ‘Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners’ thanks the Ministry for its openness to dialogue and looks forward to constructive and long-term cooperation to protect the rights of people who have suffered as a result of the Russian Federation's armed aggression.

This post was created by the NGO ‘Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners’ with the support of the Askold and Dir Foundation, administered by ISAR Unity within the framework of the project ‘Strong Civil Society in Ukraine — a Driver of Reforms and Democracy’ funded by Norway and Sweden. The content of this post is the responsibility of the NGO ‘Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners’ and does not reflect the views of the governments of Norway, Sweden or ISAR Unity.