Ombudsperson: russia does not release civilians because they can witness its atrocities in the occupied territories
Kyiv • UNN
russia is not releasing illegally detained Ukrainian civilians because they may witness its atrocities in the occupied territories.
If russia releases civilians who were illegally detained during the occupation of Ukrainian regions, they may witness atrocities committed by the Russian Federation. This was stated by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets during the event "Civilians in illegal detention by russia: joint steps of the authorities and civil society for their release", reports UNN correspondent.
russia does not release civilians because they can automatically witness the atrocities of the russian federation on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. The detention and further detention of civilians is a new system of pressure on the population that remains and lives in the TOT. This is a system of pressure based on the worst practices of the Soviet government in 1937, when people are detained, imprisoned without any evidence and tortured for just saying that things were better under Ukraine. After that, trials begin that have nothing to do with the legal system of any country
He added that Ukraine has confirmed evidence that russia is torturing civilians, subjecting them to sexual and psychological violence, and denying them access to medical care.
The issue of returning civilians home is a constant focus of our work. In particular, through the implementation of point 4 of the Presidential Peace Formula, which means returning home all deportees and prisoners of war
The Ombudsman emphasized that on February 26, Ukraine created the International Platform for the Release of Civilians Illegally Detained by the Russian Federation.
We realize that we cannot create a mechanism for the return of Ukrainian civilians on our own. We need to create a mechanism to put pressure on russia to stop illegally detaining Ukrainian civilians in the TOT and to start the process of returning Ukrainian civilians in parallel. A separate issue is granting access to the places of detention of civilian hostages for representatives of international organizations
Recall
At the moment, more than 37 thousand Ukrainian citizens are listed in the Unified Register of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances. Among them are military personnel and civilians.
