Human rights activists explained diplomats why not to hold elections on the occupied territories

Photo: Suspilne

On September 15, human rights activists held campaigned near the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine requesting adopton of the bill No. 2698 "On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine concerning the implementation of international criminal and humanitarian law."

The adoption of this draft law would harmonize Ukrainian criminal legislation with the norms of international criminal and humanitarian law. Ukrainian law enforcement officers would be able to correctly qualify crimes committed during the war in the East of Ukraine. The bill would make it impossible to amnesty people who have committed war crimes. Also, these cases cannot simply be closed by the statute of limitations.

The bill on war criminals No. 2689 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada in December 2019.

Former prisoners of war and representatives of public organizations took part in the action. Center for Civil Liberties, the Izolyatsia art fund and the Arts & Rights project were the organizers of the event.

53% of Ukrainians believe that only those persons whose guilt in war and other serious crimes will be proven in court should be prosecuted for cooperation with the authorities of the so-called “L/DPR.” This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine and in cooperation with the ZMINA Center for Human Rights.

In the course of the poll, Ukrainians were asked who should be prosecuted for cooperation with the authorities of the so-called “DPR” / “LPR”.

Half of the respondents, namely 53%, believe that it should be only those whose guilt in war and other serious crimes will be proven in court.

22% say that everyone who held leadership positions in the so-called “DPR” / “LPR” should be prosecuted .

7% believe that all residents of the occupied territories who somehow cooperated with the local authorities.

Another 3% believe that no one should be responsible.

Recently, on September, 4 human rights defenders organized a discussion in Pokrovsk "Are we ready for reconciliation?"

More than 100 mercenaries from more than 30 countries are fighting on the side of illegal armed groups in Donbass. Deputy Prosecutor General Gunduz Mammadov mentioned this in an interview for Radio Liberty.

“The Office of the Prosecutor General registered criminal proceedings on the facts of the participation of more than 100 foreign citizens in the illegal armed formations of the Russian Federation in the armed conflict in Donbas against Ukraine. The geography of the countries of origin of mercenaries is very diverse and comprises more than 30 states, including France, the Czech Republic and even Chile. The largest number of them are from Spain and Serbia - 27 people, Moldova - 26, France - 20,” - said Mammadov.

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, citizens of Bulgaria, Armenia, Italy, Spain, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Moldova, the Netherlands, Germany, and others, participated in the illegal armed groups in Donbas as well.

Mercenraies took part in various units, in particular, the so-called 14th territorial defense battalion "Prizrak", 11th separate motorized rifle regiment "Vostok", 7th separate motorized rifle brigade "Chistyakovskaya", 1st separate motorized rifle brigade "Slavyanskaya", separate reconnaissance battalion "Sparta," a separate assault battalion" Somalia ", illegal armed formations" Rusichi "," Wolf`s Hundred "," Bryanka USSR "and others.

Previously, in Kazakhstan, Yevgenii Shcherbak was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for mercenarism as part of the illegal armed formation in Donbas after the Russian Federation refused to grant him asylum.