Expert: Residents of residential care facility, where boy was burnt, looked intimidated during inspection

When the members of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) monitoring group visited Snyatyn residential care facility, where a boy had been burned alive in April 2016, its residents looked intimidated and refused to communicate.

Iryna Serhienko, the representative of the NPM Department of the Commissioner for Human Rights, told this in a commentary to the Human Rights Information Centre.

.

According to her, there were several violations concerning medical care provision and the use of pensions, and also there were drawbacks in fire safety. The local administration, the Social Policy Ministry and the Prosecutor General’s Office were informed about the inspection results.

As the NPM website reported on April 16, during inspection of the Snyatyn residential care facility the NPM found tons of humanitarian aid, which had cluttered up living rooms on the third floor.

Despite the fact that in August 2015 the clothing provided by benefactors had inflamed in the basement of the residential care facility, the administration did not draw conclusions and fire safety was violated. The residential care facility workers did not sort out things and continued to store them.

September 9, the media published information that a 23-year-old boy was burned alive in Snyatyn residential care facility. According to Yuriy Demchuk’s parents, the asylum director said their son jumped into fire. However, the examination showed that the boy had been doused with petrol from top to toe. The investigation concluded that it was a murder. The suspects have not yet been found. The carer, who had been supposed to keep an eye on Yuriy, was charged on abandonment in danger under the Criminal Code. The investigation revealed that at the time of Yuri death the woman was not in the residential care facility, although her shift was not over. Now the teacher is released and is placed under house arrest. She has pleaded not guilty.

Former residents also admitted that there were bullying and tortured in the residential care facility. Children were beaten, tortured with fire, were closed for a few days in the “bleach” room and were humiliated.