CHAPTER 1. MONITORING OBSERVANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS DURING THE REVOLUTION OF DIGNITY In relation to dramatic events that began in our country at the end of 2013 and escalated in 2014, the Department for Implementation of the NPM (hereinafter – NPM Department) in cooperation with the Department of Special Proceedings of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (hereinafter – Commissioner) were de facto performing functions of immediate response through urgent verification of information on human rights violations in different institutions, reactions to specific complaints on torture and ill-treatment of the activists of the Revolution of Dignity etc. Staff of the Secretariat of the Commissioner conducted round-the-clock visits to authorities and units of the Main Directorate of the MIA of Ukraine in Kyiv, Kyiv remand prison, as well as healthcare institutions to which injured detainees were brought. Darnytsya, Dniprovske, Desnyanske, Obolon, Podil and Shevchenkivske district police directorates were in the focus of attention, as well as the territorial department #1 of Obolon district police directorate. Majority of apprehended persons were brought to these internal affairs bodies (hereinafter – IAB). Secretariat staff visited some of the above police units several times per day. They conducted interviews with all apprehended persons in custody of these facilities, as well as recorded identified violations and undertook measures to ensure their rights to legal and medical assistance. These activities revealed, in addition to violations of the right to life, multiple violations of human rights and freedoms that can only be viewed as torture or inhuman and degrading treatment in accordance with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). All identified violations and responses of the Commissioner were included into the Special Report of the Commissioner for Human Rights “Violations of Human Rights in Ukraine during events of November 2013 – February 2014”. At the same time, considering particular gravity of human rights violations by law enforcement officials during this period, they will also be presented in this chapter. We should note that information in the Special Report was also used during development of an official communication to the International Criminal Court in The Hague by nongovernmental organizations in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Commissioner for the purposes of considering an investigation of crimes against humanity during the Revolution of Dignity. In addition, all proceedings information, including relevant communication between the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Ministry of Interior on investigation of human rights violations, were transferred to the International Advisory Group of the Council of Europe established by the decision of the CoE Secretary General for the purposes of monitoring investigation of violence during protests at Maydan from 30 November 2013 to 21 February 2014. 1.1. Violations of the right to life According to official statistics of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, from 1 January – 22 February 2014, events at Maydan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv resulted in 105 deaths (including 7