Final stage of investigation in case of captured Ukrainian sailors to start late June

20.06.2019 11:10

Ukrinform

Nikolai Polozov, the coordinator of the team of lawyers of captured Ukrainian sailors, believes that the final stage of investigative actions will start in late June or early July.

"The next round of investigative actions in the case of Ukrainian sailors, prisoners of war, ended. The investigators familiarized all sailors and their lawyers with the results of over 30 expert examinations, including ballistic, explosive, computer-technical, psychological and psychiatric, examinations of artillery installations and so on," Polozov posted on Facebook.

He recalls that "for more than six and a half months, Ukrainian sailors have been held in Russian pre-trial detention centers, isolated from each other, with a ban on meeting with relatives and with significant restrictions in communications."

It is noted that many international institutions have already adopted documents defining both the legal status of captured sailors and obliging the authorities of the Russian Federation to take legal and factual actions towards the sailors.

“Among these documents are the PACE resolution dated January, the OHCHR report, and the verdict of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea,” the lawyer reminded. However, the authorities of the Russian Federation have not taken "obvious and clear steps" in search for compromises and fulfillment of obligations arising from the norms of international law.

“We await the beginning of the final stage of investigative actions in the last days of June - early July, as well as court hearings on the extension of detention, after which the stage of familiarization with the case files will start. This will happen inside, within the framework of the criminal case in the Russian jurisdiction. And what will happen on the outer contour is the area of responsibility of diplomats and politicians. We hope they will do their job well,” Polozov summed up.

As reported, on May 26, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered Russia to immediately release three Ukrainian naval vessels and 24 captured sailors. Both sides are to submit a report on enforcement of the order to the Tribunal within up to June 25, 2019.

On November 25, 2018, Russian border guards fired on and seized three Ukrainian Navy ships, the Berdyansk, the Nikopol, and the Yani Kapu, heading from Odesa to Mariupol, near the Kerch Strait. In addition, their crewmembers, 24 Ukrainian sailors, were captured. Three of them were wounded.

A Russian-controlled court in the occupied Crimea arrested all the detained Ukrainian sailors on charges of alleged illegal border crossing. They are held in a remand prison in Moscow now.

On January 24, 2019, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution officially requiring Russia to treat captured Ukrainian sailors in accordance with the Geneva Convention’s provisions on prisoners of war.

Ukraine appealed to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea requiring the Russian Federation to release the captured naval vessels and return them to the custody of Ukraine, to suspend criminal proceedings against 24 detained sailors, to release them and allow them to return to Ukraine.