BBC: Russia detains deported Ukrainians without charge, investigation or access to lawyers

The Russian authorities are unlawfully deporting Ukrainian civilians to Russia and detaining them without trials or legal counsel.

The country is holding them in correctional colonies and investigative isolators without pressing charges, conducting investigations, granting access to lawyers, and specifying release dates, Rubryka reports, citing the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Russian service of the BBC.

As reported by the Russian BBC service, the Russian government detained thousands of Ukrainian civilians in colonies and pre-trial detention centers in Russia and temporarily occupied Ukraine for "resisting a special military operation" — a euphemism Russian officially uses for the war against Ukraine.

The Russian authorities detain Ukrainian civilians:

• without official protocols of their detention,
• without criminal or administrative charges,
• without investigations.

Due to this, the detained individuals formally "do not exist" in the Russian penitentiary system and do not have access to lawyers.

According to BBC reports, some former Ukrainian civilian prisoners claimed that the Russian authorities treated them "inhumanely" and subjected them to torture.

The publication also notes that the Russian Ministry of Defense responded to an inquiry about one of the detained civilians, stating that the Russian government is holding the detainee following the "requirements of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War."

However, the BBC stresses that the Geneva Convention prohibits taking civilians who are not involved in armed conflicts as hostages. The publication also states that currently, there is no mechanism in international law for the release of civilians from captivity. The Geneva Convention allows only the exchange of prisoners of war for other prisoners of war.

Therefore, the involvement of third parties, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has proven crucial for releasing civilians. The UAE recently acted as a mediator in the exchange of prisoners, including Ukrainian civilians.

The Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine stated that as of November 2023, 4,337 Ukrainians, including 763 civilians, were in Russian captivity.

However, the BBC points out that these figures are based on Red Cross data, which does not always have access to places where the Russian authorities hold Ukrainian civilians, including detention centers and correctional colonies in the occupied territories.

Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, stated that about 25,000 Ukrainian civilians are considered missing. He also believes that Russian forces might have abducted a significant number of the missing.

The BBC cites the "Find Our Own" project, which suggests that around 7,500 Ukrainian civilians may be unlawfully detained in Russia and occupied Ukraine. Russian and Ukrainian human rights activists have identified over 30 colonies and pre-trial detention centers allegedly holding Ukrainian civilians.

What we know about the latest exchange of prisoners

According to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for Dealing with Prisoners of War, the latest exchange on January 3 was the largest in terms of the number of released defenders.

Among the 230 released Ukrainians, there were six civilians who were illegally deprived of their liberty.

During the full-scale war, 2,828 Ukrainians have been released from Russian captivity, and this process will continue.

In other news, Ukraine's places of detention for Russian prisoners of war are overcrowded.

In late November, the Coordination Headquarters reported that Russia had suspended exchanges of prisoners to influence Ukrainian society.

Moreover, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets noted that many Russian prisoners want to return home, but Russia ignores their requests and refuses exchanges with Ukraine.