The Russian Federation illegally detains more than 7,000 civilians in the occupied territories and on the territory of the Russian Federation. It may take Ukraine almost 100 years to release all of them.
This was reported by the head of the Centre for Civil Liberties, Oleksandra Matviychuk, during the presentation of the Strategy for the Release of Civilian Prisoners and the Search for Missing Persons as a Result of Russian Aggression, Ukrinform reports.
"The Russian Federation illegally detains more than 7,000 civilians in the occupied territories and on the territory of the Russian Federation. Over the two years of the full-scale invasion, 160 civilian hostages have been handed over to Ukraine in POW exchanges. But at this rate, it may take about 100 years to release all of them," says Oleksandra Matviychuk.
Experts from the Center for Civil Liberties, together with experts from the Coordination HQ for the Treatment of POWs, have developed a Strategy for the Release of Civilians, which is focused on ensuring the rights of detained civilians and the release of civilians.
According to Mykhaylo Savva, a member of the expert council of the Centre for Civil Liberties, some of the civilians were detained for resistance, but no charges were brought against them and their lawyers have no access to them.
Some civilians have been held in prisons or penal colonies for about two years, subjected to torture and ill-treatment. The places of detention of many civilians are concealed by the Russian Federation.
Savva adds that there are 200 civilians who have been convicted since the start of the full-scale invasion or are in court proceedings, and this number is growing.
"These criminal cases are 100% falsified. All these cases that we know are accusations against people who have not committed any crimes. Even the list of articles of the Criminal Code under which they are convicted tells us that they are falsified," he said.
In his opinion, there should be another category of war criminals - judges, prosecutors and investigators who falsify criminal cases against both prisoners of war and civilians.
- More than 8,000 Ukrainians, civilians and military, are still in Russian captivity. As part of the exchanges between Ukraine and Russia, 2,681 Ukrainian soldiers and 147 civilians have been returned home.
- The state of health of Ukrainians who have returned from Russian captivity is quite poor. Most of them need rehabilitation, they have chronic diseases that require medical care. Over 90% of the prisoners were tortured.
- Russia also uses prisoners of war to provoke protests in Ukraine.