Crimes of the RF against civilian Ukrainians: ZMINA took part in the opening of the exhibition “Art for Freedom”

On December 13, an exhibition “Art for Freedom: Invisible Civilian Ukrainians Held Hostage by Russia” was opened in Lviv, highlighting the problem of illegal detention of Ukrainians in the occupied territories and in the RF. 

During the opening of the exhibition, there was also a panel discussion with Anastasiia Pantelieieva, head of the Documentation Department of the Media Initiative for Human Rights, and Borys Petruniok, analyst and documentary filmmaker of Human Rights Centre ZMINA. They spoke about the crimes committed by Russia against Ukrainians.

Borys Petruniok spoke about the numerous violations of international humanitarian law committed by Russia against Ukrainian civilians. He noted that the terror of the civilian population in the occupied territory is part of the long-term state policy of the Russian Federation. 

“At the beginning of the invasion, the occupation forces tried to detain all civilians whom they considered threatening or potentially disloyal to the occupation regime. At the same time, the military and the FSB sought to check (filter) as many civilians as possible. At the moment, raids on the temporarily occupied territories continue, in particular, to check for Russian-issued documents, and the risk of arbitrary detention is high for everyone. We say this because arbitrary detention is usually associated with the committing of other crimes by Russians – ill-treatment and torture, enforced disappearances, sexual violence“, said the analyst and documentary filmmaker of Human Rights Centre ZMINA.

Borys Petruniok stressed that we must make every effort to locate and release illegally detained Ukrainians.

Within the framework of the exhibition, 10 graphic works by Ukrainian and European artists are presented, which convey the tragedy of abducted civilians and the resilience of their spirit. The project aims to draw the attention of both the Ukrainian and international community to the problem. Its art curator is Oleh Hryshchenko, an artist, illustrator, co-founder and co-curator of the Pictoric illustrators’ club. It was organised by Common Sense Communications and the PR Army.

The exhibition will run at the City Museum until the end of December, and then it will be shown abroad to remind the world of the need to release illegally detained Ukrainians.