Russia systematically deprives Ukrainian POWs of right to fair trial - human rights activist

Russia systematically deprives Ukrainian prisoners of war and detained civilians of the right to a fair trial, attempting to shift its responsibility for the crimes committed in Mariupol onto Ukrainian defenders.

Olha Reshetylova, a human rights activist and the head of the Media Initiative for Human Rights, said this in an exclusive commentary to an Ukrinform correspondent in the Hague.

“I would call Russia's actions an attempt to shift its responsibility for the crimes committed, particularly in Mariupol, onto Ukrainian military, directly onto the defenders of Mariupol. Russia gave Mariupol defenders for the exchange the least. We also began to observe trials conducted against these individuals, during which allegations were made against them for the crimes committed by the Russians. Russia systematically deprives Ukrainian prisoners of war and detained civilians of the right to a fair trial. They cannot prove their innocence there. And these trials are aimed at creating war criminals out of Ukrainian servicepersons," she said.

According to the human rights activist, Russia is trying to create an alternative legal reality.

"It is trying to create its reality and its alternative tribunal, its alternative court, which will allegedly bring our military personnel to justice. And they are doing it. They sentence them to very long terms of imprisonment, exceeding 20 years, and statements about torture are ignored," Reshetylova underscored.

She said that her team is currently aware of 204 so-called court verdicts against Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians in the Russian-occupied territories.

"That is what we have collected so far from open sources and some of our closed sources, so these are 204 verdicts. Nevertheless, the actual number is considerably higher. We simply cannot cover everything because of the difficulties of access to the occupied territories," Reshetylova said.

The human rights activist stressed that "the persecution of civilians is also taking place in the occupied territories, and this is a systemic policy of the Russian Federation."

She noted that the ECHR judgment on the case Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea) confirms that the judicial system created by the Russian Federation in Crimea is illegal.

"This is a historic ECHR ruling, which we have been waiting for for a very long time. It is worth noting that it includes a very good point that says that the entire judicial system that Russia has created in Crimea is illegal. Therefore, all rulings issued by the so-called Russian courts in the occupied Crimea are illegal. And Russia must also be held accountable for this," the human rights activist underscored.

As reported, the European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling in the first interstate case "The case of Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea)," recognizing that the aggressor state committed multiple human rights violations in temporarily occupied Crimea.

The court ruled that there had been violations of Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), 5 (right to liberty and security), 6 (right to a fair trial), 7 (no punishment without law), 8 (right to respect for private and family life), 9 (freedom of religion), 10 (freedom of expression), 11 (freedom of assembly), 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property), Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to education) and Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 (freedom of movement) to the European Convention.

The court also unanimously ruled that the Russian Federation had failed to comply with its obligations under Article 38 (obligation to furnish necessary facilities for the examination of the case) of the Convention.