Place of detention

Author

Right to Protection Charitable Foundation Visit Website

Source: SMS website available here.

There are no official detention facilities in airports; however, there are MTT managed by the SBGS.

Detained persons can be citizens of Ukraine, foreigners, or stateless persons who have been detained by authorized officers of the SBGS for committing administrative offences or on suspicion of committing criminal offences that fall under the competence of the SBGS in accordance with Ukrainian legislation. This category also includes foreigners or stateless persons for whom a decision has been made to place them in designated temporary holding facilities for foreigners and stateless persons who are unlawfully present in Ukraine, pending their forced expulsion, as well as those accepted from the competent authorities of other countries under valid international agreements on readmission (transfer and acceptance) of persons.

Depending on the grounds for placement in MTT, the period of detention may vary. For example, administrative detention of a person who has committed an administrative offence may last no more than three hours, and in necessary cases for establishing the person’s identity and/or clarifying the circumstances of the offence – up to three days. The period of detention may also be determined by a court decision.

Detained persons can be released (discharged) from the MTT due to:

• expiration of the detention period;
• transfer, in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, to a law enforcement or other state authority;
• termination of the legal grounds for detention as defined by Ukrainian legislation;
• entry into force of a court decision or decision of another competent authority (official) on the application of a different preventive measure or the release of the person.

Detained persons are also considered to have been discharged from the MTT in cases of escape or death.

In the territory of Ukraine, third-country nationals, including asylum seekers, are detained in specialised facilities – Migrant Custody Centres – which are State bodies.^[1] The temporary stay facility is managed by the SMS.^[2]

In 2023, the Parliament Commissioner reported the tendency of SMS to detain foreigners within the premises of the territorial bodies of the SMS. It was found that the territorial branches of the SMS do not have facilities for the temporary detention of migrants. Foreign nationals are held for long periods of time in premises not equipped for long-term detention, namely in the offices of employees, while decisions are being made on their expulsion. For example, in the Main Department of the SMS in the Lviv region, there were cases of foreign nationals being detained for more than 13 hours, in the SMS in the Khmelnytskyi region – more than 15 hours, in the SMS in the Ternopil region – more than 8 hours.

As there are no special places for temporary detention of detained foreigners in the territorial bodies of the SMS, SMS officials have to take foreigners to MCCs as soon as possible, mostly at night, which are located at a great distance from the territorial bodies. However, it is not defined how long a foreigner could stay in a territorial office of the SMS, nor the procedure for providing them with food before being placed in MCC.

[1] Para. 1 Model Regulation on the Migrant Custody Centres.

[2] Para. 3 Model Regulation on the Migrant Custody Centres.