Russia uses Interpol to persecute Ukrainian military – rights activists – Ukrinform

Ukrainian human rights activists presented in The Hague at the 23rd session of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court a report on illegal trials of prisoners and civilians imprisoned in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories.

The full text of the report will be published in early 2025, a Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague heard.

“Work on this project was started last year, that is, for almost a year we have been working on this study in stages. First, there was the stage of developing the methodology, then we worked with monitors who are directly in the occupied territories and are able to at least somehow monitor the so-called courts that make decisions on illegal imprisonment. The Media Initiative for Human Rights studied the situation in Russia and the newly occupied territories. From our side, monitoring was carried out in the occupied Crimea, that is, monitors went to those courts that we managed to get to. Who these people are, how we contact them I can’t tell you, because it’s about their safety. We also received information from open sources. Then all the data was systematized, handed to experts for processing, and this report was created on their basis,” Viktoria Nesterenko, a Human Rights Activist representing the Human Rights Centre ZMINA, told Ukrinform in a comment.

She noted that work on the report is underway: “It will be ready in a few months. Then we will prepare and officially showcase the presentation to Ukraine. And now we have made it based on a sample of 10 cases that have been heard in the so-called courts throughout the year, assessing each point in light of fair judicial standards. We have already monitored 84 so-called court hearings in about 25 cases. But these are cases that are still being heard now, and their number is constantly growing. After all, Russia is relentlessly persecuting people and imprisoning them in pre-trial detention centres, including women. The number of prisoners of war against whom criminal proceedings are being opened is also increasing.“

Human rights activist and Head of the Media Initiative for Human Rights, Olha Reshetylova said that most of such illegal cases are heard in Rostov.

“The so-called trials are held in the occupied territories, including Crimea, and on the territory of the Russian Federation. Most often in Rostov, because their military court is located there, and a significant part in Crimea,” Reshetylova said in a comment to Ukrinform.

According to her, “all this is an illusion of justice, which in reality has nothing to do with justice. They are trying to create a picture, their alternative legal reality, trying to shift their own responsibility for the crimes committed onto Ukrainian defenders. When you question those released from captivity, all the cases are completely fabricated, all the testimonies are extracted through terrible torture. Some cannot stand this torture, and we are repatriating more bodies from captivity. We also have such testimonies where an investigator, for example, comes into the cell and declares: ‘You have time to come up with a crime. If you don’t come up with one, there will be appropriate consequences.’ Also, they may force their neighbor to come up with a crime and testify about it. And all this happens amid terrible torture. Russia, violating the right to a fair trial, is committing crimes against humanity and using its judicial system to persecute the civilian population and prisoners of war.“

Reshetylova emphasized that the Russian Federation is trying to create its own alternative tribunal, which will be tasked with proving the responsibility of the Ukrainian side for the crimes committed by Russia.

“They are holding Ukrainian commanders, but at the moment we do not see any criminal proceedings against them. So we think that the Russians are preparing a higher-level case, their own tribunal,” the human rights activist said.

She also noted that the Russian Federation uses Interpol in the war against Ukraine: “The Russians pass sentences in absentia and put our servicemen on the wanted list through Interpol, supposedly for terrorism, extremism, or general criminal articles. We have seen situations where former prisoners of war had to go abroad for rehabilitation, but they could not, because they were on the wanted list.“

In turn, OSCE expert, Specialist of the CReDO Human Rights Resource Center from Moldova, human rights activist Serhiy Ostaf believes that Russian prosecutors and judges who make illegal decisions should also be held accountable.

“There is criminal liability for gross violations of human rights. If a judge or prosecutor is part of a system of political persecution of Ukrainian citizens with discriminatory intent just because they are Ukrainians and have different political views, then this is a war crime,” he emphasized.

Ostaf said the identification of the judges responsible for considering these cases, as well as prosecutors and representatives of law enforcement agencies, is underway. “There are legal grounds for criminal liability, because they are part of political persecution and must be held accountable.“

Ostaf said the identification of judges responsible for considering these cases, as well as prosecutors and representatives of law enforcement agencies, is ongoing. “There are legal grounds for criminal liability, because they are part of political persecution and must be held accountable. We are collecting information about these individuals. Sometimes the same judges are responsible for hearing several cases. So, this is a multiple violation of the provisions on war crimes,” the OSCE expert concluded.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the 23rd session of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court is being held in The Hague, Netherlands, from December 2 to 7.

Photo: Iryna Drabok, Ukrinform

Source: Ukrinform