The prosecutor’s office appeals to the victims of illegal detention in the Russian Federation and their families: every detail is important
[ad_1]
Even the best analysts do not predict the date of Ukrainian victory. Too many factors affect the course of events and the potential for the liberation of captured territories. One thing can be said for sure: the war will end only when we return home all our prisoners of war and civilians who are held by the Russian Federation illegally and in violation of international humanitarian law.
We still do not know the exact number of detained civilians. The UN recorded up to a thousand cases of forced detention of adults and even children. But, in fact, according to the estimates of prosecutors, experts and human rights defenders, the number of cases of detention may be several times higher, since some territories are still occupied, which means that someone can be detained even at this moment.
Detainees are illegally deprived of their liberty, humiliated, tortured, and killed. In addition, tens of thousands of Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes due to hostilities. The houses of many of them were destroyed, some people were forcibly deported to the territory of the Russian Federation. The fate of many still remains unknown.
Prosecutors and investigators see peculiarities of the working methods of the Russian occupation machine in the liberated towns and villages. Executions, mass graves and unburied bodies of murdered people with tied hands and traces of violence.
We communicate with witnesses, reconstructing the picture of what happened during the occupation. Everywhere is the same: first they come to veterans, volunteers and representatives of local authorities. Then, during the sweep, they take away everyone who, according to the occupiers, can offer any resistance. Sometimes such a “crime” as a blue and yellow outfit, or “physical evidence” in the form of a magnet with Ukrainian symbols is enough.
A particularly vulnerable category is the wives and close relatives of military personnel who are purposefully subjected to sexual violence.
Read also: Invisible for the Geneva Conventions. Why is it so difficult for Ukraine to return civilian prisoners home?
Patterns of Russian crimes
Detained civilians are kept in inhumane conditions. This was the case in Yagidny in Chernihiv Oblast, where 368 children and adults were kept as “human shields” in a cramped, cold basement without heating or sewage for almost a month. The youngest hostage was barely 1.5 months old at the time, the oldest was 93 years old. Ten elderly people died as a result of such terrible conditions of detention.
The most typical cases are not only detention, unsanitary conditions, cold, hunger and lack of medicine, but also threats, beatings, torture, mock executions and sexual violence. According to our estimates, at least 90% of prisoners go through violence. Some are killed.
The UN counted 72 men and 5 women executed during detention. These figures are not final and do not take into account the number of people who died as a result of torture and terrible conditions.
In the de-occupied territories, we found 106 torture chambers, the most in Kharkiv Oblast (23), Zaporizhia Oblast (16), Donetsk Oblast (12), and Kherson Oblast (11). More than 1,400 people became victims of torture in Kharkiv and Kherson regions alone. They tell how they were tortured to “testify” and vote “for” in the pseudo-referendum.
Beating, drowning, torture with electric current, in particular genitals – this standard arsenal was used by the occupiers everywhere.
Sometimes, after prolonged abuse, without receiving any information, the executioners demanded money for release. And loved ones gave their last breath to save their relatives. This was the case with the family of a Kherson businessman who was bought out by his relatives for UAH 100,000. after almost three weeks of torture. The occupiers saw him as an agent of American influence: the “evidence” was a US-made cash register.
In all regions, liberated cities and communities – the same picture, regardless of the type of troops, military unit or place of origin of the occupiers. Such patterns of actions, their massiveness and brutality testify to a purposeful policy of destroying Ukrainians as a nation, and Ukraine as a state.
Evil must not go unpunished
As of October, the Prosecutor General’s Office has reported suspicion of 156 Russian military personnel involved in the illegal detention and abuse of civilians. We are talking about both rank-and-file performers and officers and their command. 114 indictments have already been sent to court. 35 occupiers were convicted of torture and ill-treatment. The case of the organizers of one of Kherson’s death camps, through which more than 200 civilians passed, is currently in court.
According to Ukrainian legislation, all these crimes fall under the concept of “violation of the laws and customs of war” (Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), that is, war crimes.
From the point of view of international law, these actions brutally violate such fundamental documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Treatment, the Geneva Conventions and their protocols, the Rome Statute, etc.
The scale and systematicity of the occupiers’ actions allow us to confidently speak not only about war crimes, but also about international crimes, crimes against humanity. We hope that they will become the subject of consideration by the International Criminal Court in order to bring the top management of the Russian Federation to justice in The Hague.
After all, the aggressor is not going to stop. In May of this year, V. Putin signed a decree authorizing the relocation of people from territories where martial law was imposed. That is, from the occupied territories to the Russian Federation, where human rights activists counted at least 40 permanent places of detention of Ukrainians. At the beginning of the year, the Russian government had plans to create 25 new colonies and 6 other places of detention in occupied Ukraine by 2026.
For the General Prosecutor’s Office, the search, release and return of Ukrainians is one of the priorities, along with bringing to justice those involved in their detention and torture.
We involve international partners and the public sector in joint work, the International Council of Experts at the Prosecutor General’s Office helps in this, as well as Ukrainian human rights organizations – the Media Initiative for Human Rights, the Center for Civil Liberties, the Zmina Center for Human Rights, as well as the Kateryna Osadchoi Foundation and others.
Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin recently raised the issue of illegal detention of Ukrainians at a meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards.
The problem is that there is currently no international legal mechanism to combat such crimes. Therefore, Ukraine is working on its creation at all levels, involving experts and convincing partners of its necessity.
Violation of the foundations of international humanitarian law requires a reaction and joint actions of the entire free world. Not only in the interests of Ukraine, but also to create a security system in which life, dignity and rights of people are the highest – and protected – value.
We will continue to fight for each and every one. Illegally detained, deported, imprisoned by the terrorist state and its proxies.
If you were illegally detained by the Russians and they released you, report this to the police or the Security Service of Ukraine. If you have information about detained compatriots or if there is reason to believe that one of your relatives and acquaintances may be detained – inform the police or the Security Service of Ukraine.
Refer to Find My Resources to help locate missing persons. I also recommend the initiative of the Center for Civil Liberties, Prisoners Voice, created for the release of prisoners of war, civilian hostages, illegally deprived of liberty and political prisoners.
Every detail is important. We must find and return home all our compatriots illegally deprived of their liberty by the aggressor. We must identify and bring to justice all those who detained, abused, tortured and killed them. Restoration of justice is an integral part of Ukrainian victory.
Iryna Didenkohead of the Office of the Prosecutor General, specially for “UP. Life”
Publications in the “View” section are not editorial articles and reflect exclusively the author’s point of view.
[ad_2]
Original Source Link
