Russia held 1122 civilians hostage in August – Ukrainian human rights media at OSCE meeting
During the OSCE conference in Warsaw, Ukraine's Media Initiative for Human Rights launched the Release Hostages: A Demand for Freedom Campaign to draw the world's attention to Russia's detention of Ukrainian civilians.
According to the data, Russia held 1122 civilians hostage in August 2023. The number of such cases may be several times higher as detentions continue on occupied territories to break down Ukraine's spirit to fight.
The organization has managed to identify over 80 operating places of detention, both in the occupied territory and Russia, where people are tortured and kept in terrible conditions.
The investigation is based on the testimonies of released civilian hostages and relatives of those who remain in Russian captivity. The report reflects the violations of the rights and freedoms of the civilian population in three war-battered regions such as Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy.
All this data was entered into the I-DOC system, which international legal institutions recognize. The facts documented in this system should help bring the perpetrators to justice for international crimes committed against Ukrainian citizens.
Each case of violation of civilian rights is described in several categories: where and how the civilian was detained, why it happened, the place, conditions, etc. The story of civilians being taken to Belarus and then to Russia as the final destination is also described. We also record how the person was released. If they are still being held hostage, we indicate their likely place of detention, says Liubov Smachylo, the media's analyst.
The investigation was presented during the side event with the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the OSCE and Lithuania to the International Organizations in Vienna.
The details are shocking in their scale and brutality. One of the most widespread violations we see is the arbitrary detention of civilian hostages, said Anne Marie Callan, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the OSCE, who moderated the side event.
Olha Cherniak, a former civilian hostage from the Kherson region, and Tetiana Popovych from Bucha participated in the event. Russia has confirmed that 27 civilians it is holding captive from the liberated town in the Kyiv region. Another 55 people are announced missing.
Olha said the Russian military tortured her entire family, beating her with rubber truncheons and threatening her with weapons, especially for refusing to sing the Russian anthem and say "Glory to Putin!"
Her son was released 15 days after the abduction, and her husband was released a month later. The woman spent 280 days in captivity. She was fed only once a day and one of the forms of torture was finding her way to her cell blindfolded.
War crimes are not an abstract concept. These are crimes committed in an armed conflict that deprive innocent people of their dignity and life. They involve children, women, men, the elderly, whose lives suddenly end or they lose their dignity and property, emphasized Marius Fossum, Regional Representative for Central Asia of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.
You can find the full report on the investigation by the link.
