Reshetylova: “Russia’s state policy of persecuting civilian Ukrainians and establishing occupation authorities bears signs of at least a crime against humanity”

Медійна ініціатива за права людини

• 12 December 2023

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The head of the Media Initiative for Human Rights, Olha Reshetylova, has started an advocacy visit to the United States.

The first event took place in the US capital of Washington, DC, where the MIHR and the Office of the Attorney General of Ukraine held a cross-sectoral discussion, “Stolen Lives: Unveiling  Russian War Crimes Against Civilian Population in Ukraine.” The event was initiated by the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, the National Endowment for Democracy, and supported by the Center for European Policy Analysis. Diplomatic missions attended it, as think tanks and key U.S. institutions responsible for investigating international crimes, developing political and legal mechanisms to bring perpetrators to justice, and supporting civil society in Ukraine.

Olha Reshetylova thanked the guests for their support of justice for the war in Ukraine: “Your support is vital for us. After all, we are not only talking about future accountability for criminals, which we want to achieve — we are talking about crimes that are going on right now and how to prevent further atrocities of Russia against Ukrainians.”

Reshetylova presented a preliminary report of the MIHR on the facts of persecution of civilians in the territory of the northern regions of Ukraine, which were occupied in the first months of Russia’s full-scale invasion, entered into the iDoc database.

“Initially, we investigated arbitrary detentions in the occupied territories separately, filtration camps separately, places of detention and torture separately,” the Head of the MIHR noted. “But later, we realized that all these separate crimes are part of a single state policy of Russia to persecute civilians and establish occupation authorities.

These bear signs of at least a crime against humanity because their systematic nature is obvious. It is impossible to organize the systematic capture, transfer, and detention of thousands of people without the knowledge of the highest military and political leadership.

To build a full-fledged investigation, we began documenting and registering data in the iDoc system according to the elements of a crime against humanity. The Ukraine 5 AM Coalition, of which the MIHR is a member, chose this database as the most optimal for storing and systematizing data. Thanks to this, we can accumulate not only the materials we have collected but also the information of our colleagues.”

During the event, Reshetylova also demonstrated the online map of places where Russia is holding abducted Ukrainians, created by the Media Initiative for Human Rights. Currently, more than 120 locations are marked on the map. In all of these places, Ukrainians are held in inadequate conditions and tortured all the time.

As of December 2023, the MIHR has identified 1355 civilian Ukrainians illegally detained by Russia. However, the number may be many times higher. Establishing the exact number is impossible, as Russia does not allow international observers to visit Ukrainians.