Both Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian authorities have illegally
detained and tortured civilians in the country’s war-torn east, human
rights groups reported Thursday.
Charities Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued a joint
report revealing that both sides had executed “enforced disappearances.”
Detainees were “seized off the streets,” denied medical attention, beaten and abused and “cut off from family and lawyers.”
Ukrainian security services (SBU) allegedly operated an unofficial detention
compound in Kharkiv, where as many as 16 people may remain detained
without any official records. Local separatist in Donetsk and Luhansk
operate “without any checks and balances,” routinely “depriving”
detainees “of their rights,” and “leaving them helpless,” the report
said.
The 56-page report details 18 different cases, in which almost all
detainees discussed being offered in “prisoner exchanges.” The groups
expressed “serious concern” that such civilians are being used as
“currency” between the two sides.
“In almost all the cases we investigated, captors told victims that
they were being offered for prisoner exchanges. These stories gives us
strong grounds to believe that both sides could be using civilians as
“fodder” for potential exchanges. Such practices could constitute
hostage taking, a war crime,” said Tanya Lokshina, a senior researcher
for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch.
"We are both calling on Ukraine’s authorities and pro-Russian
separatists to end enforced disappearances and arbitrary and
incommunicado detention, and to put into effect zero-tolerance policies
for torture and ill-treatment of detainees," she said.
The report also cited “lack of access for independent monitors,” and
recommended that both sides “end and investigate” these enforced
disappearances.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 9,000 civilians and
combatants since April 2014.
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