Thirteen convicts more transferred to Ukraine from occupied Donetsk

"Thirteen people, who were convicted by the Ukrainian courts before the outbreak of the war in 2014, have been transferred today from occupied Donetsk to the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government pursuant to the agreements reached earlier at a meeting of the humanitarian subgroup in Minsk. These people want to serve their sentences in Ukrainian prisons," First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko posted on Facebook.

As noted, about 1,000 people, who had been convicted before the start of the Russian aggression and served their sentences in prisons in the occupied Donbas, have repeatedly appealed to Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova and representatives of the Minsk Trilateral Contact Group with a request to transfer them to the government-controlled territory.

“Yes, these people have committed serious crimes, but we, as a rule-of-law state, must take care of protection of their rights, all the more we are aware of the facts of ill-treatment and the use of convicts as labor force. We are ready to transfer all those, who want to serve their sentences in the government-controlled territory," the First Vice Speaker stressed.

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