Russia is holding at least 1,122 Ukrainian civilians hostage: The Media Initiative for Human Rights in the OSCE presented the first part of the war crimes investigation

As part of the OSCE Warsaw Conference on the Human Dimension, which started yesterday, the Media Initiative for Human Rights presented the first part of its own investigation into Ukrainian civilians held hostage by Russia. As of August 2023, the Media Initiative for Human Rights has verified 1,122 such civilians.

However, according to various estimates, their number can be 5-7 times greater.

The Media Initiative for Human Rights collected evidence of unjustified detentions and abductions of the civilian population of Ukraine in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia. The investigation is based on the testimony of released civilian hostages and relatives of those who remain in Russian captivity. The report reflects the violation of the rights and freedoms of the civilian population of Ukraine by representatives of the Russian Federation in three regions that were under occupation in the first days of the full-scale invasion: Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. All these data are entered into the I-DOC system recognized by international legal institutes. In the future, the facts documented in this system should help bring the perpetrators to justice for the international crimes committed against the citizens of Ukraine.

“In our first report, we described as fully as possible the places of detention of Ukrainian civilians,” said Lyubov Smachilo, an analyst at the Media Initiative for Human Rights. — Every case of violation of the rights of the civilian population in the occupied territories is described in several categories: where and how the civilian was detained, why it happened, the place, the conditions of detention, the number of days he was held hostage, etc. The method of removing civilians first to the territory of Belarus and then to Russia as the final destination is shown separately. We also record how the person was released. If she is still being held hostage, we indicate her likely place of detention.”

The presentation of the investigation took place during the side event “Civilian hostages: behind bars. How I-DOC can help identify patterns of crimes and identify criminals”, organized by the Media Initiative for Human Rights together with the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the OSCE and the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Lithuania to international organizations in Vienna.

“Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, war crimes and other atrocities committed by the Russian army in Ukraine have been carefully documented. The details are shocking in their scale and brutality. One of the most common crimes we see is the arbitrary detention of civilian hostages,” she said during opening of the event Anna-Marie Callan, permanent representative of Ireland to the OSCE, who moderated the side event.

The event was also attended by Olga Chernyak, a former civilian hostage from the Kherson region, and Tetyana Popovych from Buchi, the mother of a civilian hostage still being held by Russia. Popovych keeps lists of those abducted from the Buchansk community. According to her, as of now, Russia has confirmed 27 civilian hostages it is holding captive. A further 55 people are still missing, but are believed to be in captivity as well.

According to Olga Chernyak’s testimony, the Russian military tortured her entire family. They beat their son, husband and Olga herself with their feet, rubber batons, and threatened them with weapons, especially for refusing to sing the Russian national anthem and say “Glory to Putin!” The victim’s son was released 15 days after the abduction, her husband a month later. The woman spent 280 days in captivity. She was fed only once a day, one of the forms of torture was finding a way into the cell while blindfolded.

“War crimes are not an abstract concept. They are crimes committed in armed conflict that deprive innocent people of their dignity and life. They are about children, women, men, elderly people, whose lives suddenly end or they lose their dignity and property, – emphasized Marius Fossum, regional representative in Central Asia of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, during the side event. — Sometimes experts express skepticism about the fact that civil society is engaged in documenting these crimes.

They claim that public organizations allegedly do not have sufficient competence for this. However, such criticisms indicate that a person is simply not aware of how this work is done and that its quality is often very good.”

The full version of the first part of the investigation presented during the side event is available at the link. The event was supported by the European Endowment for Democracy (EED). Its content does not necessarily reflect the official position of EED. Information or views expressed during the event are the sole responsibility of the speakers.

About the Media Initiative for Human Rights

The organization was founded in September 2016. The main activity of Media Initiative for Human Rights is journalistic investigations of human rights violations with subsequent advocacy support of cases. Currently, the Media Initiative for Human Rights combines monitoring and documentation of human rights violations in connection with the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, coverage, investigation of individual episodes, analysis of collected data and advocacy activities.

For the team, it is important not only to talk about human rights violations in the occupation and the war zone, but above all to influence their resolution and encourage an appropriate response to them both at the national and international levels.