Russia opens criminal cases against more than 600 captured Ukrainians - media
Kyiv • UNN
As of June 30, 2024, Ukraine is aware of 620 of its citizens captured by Russia and prosecuted in sham trials, with 29 prisoners returned during the full-scale invasion.
As of June 30 this year, Ukraine is aware of 620 citizens captured by Russia who are being prosecuted. This was reported to Suspilne by the press service of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, UNN reports.
"29 'convicted' prisoners or those against whom fake criminal proceedings were initiated in the aggressor country were returned during the full-scale invasion," the Corps said.
As for the total number, as of June 30, 2024, there were 620 Ukrainian citizens in Russian captivity for whom there is information about criminal prosecution. Criminal cases are opened in the Russian Federation or in the occupation - on the territory of the unrecognized pseudo-republics of Donbas - LPR and DPR.
Earlier it was reported that in Ukraine, the Register of Missing Persons under Special Circumstances now contains data on more than 51 thousand people. According to human rights activists, the families of missing persons often do not know where to turn for help and what state guarantees they can have.
What is known about Russia's pseudo-trials of prisoners
In November 2023, a Ukrainian serviceman was convicted in Russia for the first time: The Southern District Military Court sentenced prisoner of war Anton Cherednyk to 19 years in a strict regime penal colony with the first three years in prison. The man served in the Marines and was taken prisoner in April 2022 during the battle for Mariupol.
In March, the so-called court of the "DPR" terrorist group sentenced ten captured soldiers of the "Azov" regiment, and in April, six Ukrainian soldiers (including three "Azov" soldiers).
In May, at least eight Ukrainian prisoners of war were convicted in the DPR. As Olena Matvienko, chief consultant of the Eastern Regional Center of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, explained to Suspilne Donbas, such occupation courts are held to demonstrate compliance with certain laws.
