Quasi-legal system

“They put a bag over his head and drove him away.” How the Russians abducted an ex-police officer, Oleksiy Kyrychenko, from the Zaporizhzhia region, and what he is being ‘tried’ for

Mykhailivka is a town near Zaporizhzhia. The Russians occupied it in the first days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As in other captured settlements, they began to illegally search homes and abduct civilians: some were later returned home, while others have still remained hostages of the Russians.

21 March 2024

Terrorism and attempted arson of a person: what the Russians accuse Kostiantyn Zinovkin from Melitopol of and where he is held

The Russians occupied Melitopol in the first days of the full-scale invasion. They immediately seized the administrative buildings and started dispersing pro-Ukrainian protests with weapons, abducting local residents and holding them hostage. Kostiantyn Zinovkin, who stayed in Melitopol to care for his mother and grandmother, was not spared either.

12 February 2024

URGENT: Russia accuses Ukrainian children of sabotage. They face 10 to 20 years in prison

On May 24, 2023, Tihran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanhanov, both born in 2006, in the temporarily occupied city of Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region, were charged by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation with accusations of allegedly planning sabotage on the railway. The indictment was preceded by several months of bullying, detention, and torture.

25 May 2023

Ukraine 5 AM Coalition condemns ‘sentences’ to three Ukrainian prisoners of war passed by militants

On March 10, the official website of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation published information about the "conviction" of three Ukrainian prisoners of war. The Coalition emphasizes that violating the right of prisoners of war to a fair trial is a war crime.

10 March 2023

Void sentences. Russia-controlled “courts” of Donetsk and Luhansk have convicted three Ukrainian military

On March 10, 2022, it became known that Maksym Butkevych, a Ukrainian journalist, human rights activist, and military, was “sentenced” in occupied Luhansk to 13 years of the colony with a strict regime. Viktor Pokhozey and Vladyslav Shel have received sentences of 8.5 and 18.5 years of colony accordingly.

10 March 2023

Territories of Evil. How the Quasi-legal System Operates in the Occupied Territories

On December 22, the Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR) presented an analytical report titled Quasi-legal System […]

26 December 2022

Geneva Conventions violations by the Russian Federation prior to February 24: detention of Viacheslav Shabolda, a Donetsk resident

Before February 24, civilians were also detained in Donetsk, accused of sabotage and espionage for the benefit […]

29 November 2022

Detention after the pseudo-referendum: in the Kherson region, people get kidnapped for refusing to vote

The Russian Federation held a so-called referendum on the accession to Russia in the occupied territories of […]

21 October 2022

No defense guaranteed in case of detention: the way so-called attorneys work in the occupied territories

Since 2014, thousands of inhabitants of the occupied territories have been imprisoned on such charges as “involvement […]

10 August 2022

Arbitrary Detention Mechanism is the Fundamental Practice of the So-called “Investigators” in ORDLO

Not only does the quasi-legal system in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblast fail to function as intended, but it also enables the imprisonment of Ukrainian citizens for many years on politically-motivated charges.

2 February 2022