Denisova: 376 people illegally detained in occupied Crimea and Donbas

In her video address to the participants of the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Denisova emphasized that Russia had launched the armed aggression against sovereign Ukraine on February 20, 2014, and occupied part of its territories in violation of international law. Despite the ceasefire announced on July 27, 2020, the number of military and civilian casualties is constantly growing, she noted.

"Illegal arrests and detentions continue to take place in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas. In particular, 109 Ukrainian citizens, most of whom are Crimean Tatars, are illegally detained in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territory of the peninsula. Moreover, 267 Ukrainians are illegally detained in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas,” the Ukrainian Ombudsperson said.

Denisova noted that the COVID-19 pandemic posed an even greater threat to the observance and enforcement of human rights both in the temporarily occupied and the government-controlled territories.

She stressed that she was deprived of the opportunity to monitor the observance of the rights and freedoms of citizens in the temporarily occupied territories.

“Russia ignores the implementation of the UN General Assembly resolution of December 16, 2020, blocks access to these territories for me and independent international monitoring missions. I ask the international community to continue to put pressure on the Russian Federation to restore peace and release all illegally detained Ukrainian citizens,” the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights urged.

ol