SECTION 2. rules of an inter-agency order and denied free access of the NPM monitoring group to the premises for criminal defendants (convicts) and courtrooms. As a result members of the monitoring team were able to get to these settings only a hour and a half later, due to direct intervention of the Ombudsman. After the Ombudsman’s submission to the Minister of Justice of Ukraine provisions of the relevant Joint Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and SCAU were brought into conformity with the Law of Ukraine “On the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner or Human Rights” with regard to free access of the Ombudsman and representatives of the Ombudsman to court premises. Typical violations of human rights and freedoms found in 2013 Manifestations of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment were found in all visited courts, without any exception. In this conjunction the issue of respect of the rights and freedoms of criminal defendants in courts became the topic of the Ombudsman’s separate presentation at the parliament hearings on June 12, 2013. The main problem is that premises for criminal defendants and convicts in courts fully fail to comply with the minimum standards of detention developed by CPT experts and embedded in the European Prison Rules, specifically, - - actual floor area in premises where defendants/ convicts await court hearings is only 0.7 - 1.5 sq. m per person, with not more than 2 to 4 cubic meters of air person (instead of the prescribed 7 to 9 cubic meters); in most courtrooms criminal defendants stay in metal cages and not behind organic glass barriers, in violation of the Code of Criminal 117 Procedure of Ukraine; - many courts do not have toilets and drinking water sources for the defendants. Other typical problems include the following: - most courts do not have germicidal lamps to disinfect courtrooms and the premises for defendants/ convicts and their convoy; - many courts fail to provide the conditions for people with disabilities (e.g. absence of ramps, railings, etc.); - courts have no conditions for confidential communication of criminal defendants/ convicts with their lawyers. Moreover, it has been found that the domestic building and construction rules related to the premises for defendants/ convicts in the courthouses do not meet minimal international standards of detention. For example, concerning rules the cell area is to be not less than 4 sq. m but there is no mention of how many persons may be held thereat. Implementation of the Ombudsman’s recommendations given to SCAU in 2013 In each instance of establishment of a fact of ill-treatment relevant information and recommendations as to elimination of human rights violations were communicated to the leaderships of SCAU, MIA, SPSU and PGO, in accordance with their competence. Analysis of the responses on the status of implementation of such recommendations indicates that most of the eliminated shortcomings were those that did not require substantial financial and material costs.