Ukraine initiating at UN review of issue of illegal detention, killing of political prisoners in russia

Each case where Ukrainian citizens die in Russian penitentiary facilities must see an appropriate response from the international community. Ukraine has already filed a letter with the UN Committee on Prevention of Torture and will demand that an international tribunal be created that would try Russia's top military and political leadership.

That's according to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, who spoke in an interview with Radio NV.

"We sent an urgent letter to the UN Committee for the Prevention of Torture. I am currently drafting a letter to all other international institutions that must record the facts of the illegal detention and killing of our citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation. What is happening is nonsense. Citizens of Ukraine lived in their territory in a legal way, then this territory was illegally annexed by the Russian Federation, and after that, citizens of Ukraine are charged according to Russian legislation. From the international law perspective, this is nonsense," Lubinets emphasized.

He noted that currently, there is no clear, serious reaction to Russia's crimes on the part of the international community.

"I would very much like (we are currently preparing separate documents) for this to become a separate issue to be considered by the UN Security Council and General Assembly regarding the illegal detention of thousands, tens of thousands of civilians. Since 2014, the Russian Federation has been doing this and continues to do this – illegally detaining, arresting people without any evidence, sentencing them to long terms, accusing people of being part of a terrorist organization or spying for Ukraine on the Russian territory. A separate resolution should be adopted on this issue, which should become an additional fact, an argument for continued sanctions policy against Russia, new sanctions against the leaders of the Russian state, all those who participate in the process. And this is an additional argument to finally make a decision to set up an international tribunal that would try Russia's top military and political leadership, having finally recognized that it's terrorists who are at the helm," Lubinets emphasized.

As reported, Dzhemil Gafarov, a political prisoner of Crimean Tatar descent, who was illegally convicted by the invasion forces in the Hizb-ut-Tahrir case, died in the pre-trial detention center in Novocherkassk (Russia).

On Tuesday, February 7, another Ukrainian national died: Kostiantyn Shyring, who was detained in the temporarily occupied Crimea and illegally deprived of freedom by Russia in 2020 on charges of participation in the operations of the "Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group."