More than 600 thousand ORDLO residents have Russian passports – Denisova

Through compulsory passportization by the Russian Federation, more than 600,000 passports have already been issued in ORDLO.

Ombudsperson Liudmila Denisova announced this during a meeting with the newly appointed Coordinator of the TCG Humanitarian Subgroup from the OSCE Charlotte Relander.

She noted that in case of disagreement to obtain such a passport, doctors, teachers, employees of enterprises may lose their jobs.

She also said that the number of illegally imprisoned and captured Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions was constantly growing. Compared to August 2020, it increased by 57 people (from 235 to 292). Another 258 people are missing.

"Our citizens are being tortured inhumanely, as a result of which their health is constantly deteriorating. The exchange in the format of 'all for all' per the Minsk agreements has been slowed down by the Russian party," Denisova said.

She also said that the situation with the transfer of convicted persons who had been detained or convicted in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions before the Russian occupation remained difficult.

"I've transferred 386 convicts from the temporarily occupied territories to continue serving their sentences in the territory controlled by Ukraine, 250 of them have already been released. Currently, another 450 Ukrainian citizens are waiting to be transferred, including 70 lifers. However, since September 2019, the transfer of imprisoned citizens hasn't been carried out due to the lack of consent of the Russian-controlled occupation administration.

220 criminal cases against 235 people remain in the courts in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The transfer of these cases is extremely necessary because due to their absence, Ukrainian courts cannot consider appeals and cassation complaints of citizens, which violates the right to a fair trial," the ombudswoman said.

In addition, during the meeting, Denisova noted that out of 7 checkpoints in eastern Ukraine, only 2 are working, the rest are blocked by the occupation authorities.

"This leads to a violation of the rights of residents of the temporarily occupied territories to free movement, receiving social benefits, and admission to higher education institutions in the territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine," said Liudmila Denisova.