Ukraine’s Justice Ministry to file lawsuit at ECHR over illegal detention of Ukrainians in Russia

Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said this at a briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We delayed submission of this suit as we hoped that it would be possible to agree on the return of Ukrainians to the territory of Ukraine through diplomatic channels. However, we see that these chances are diminishing day by day because the leadership of the aggressor state is absolutely ruthless with Ukrainian citizens. Therefore, after the final consultations with the Foreign Ministry and our diplomats, we will file a comprehensive lawsuit over prosecution of Ukrainian citizens on national grounds in the Russian Federation. Their detention is kidnapping and holding hostage on the territory of the Russian Federation. The lawsuit is ready. We only have to approve a final decision to avoid doing harm to those Ukrainian citizens, who now stay in Russian prisons. Afterwards, the lawsuit will be filed at the European Court of Human Rights," Petrenko said.

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