Photo: Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine/Facebook
Russia has committed around 600 crimes against journalists in Ukraine during its full-scale invasion, including illegal detentions and abductions of media representatives.
This was reported on the official Facebook page of the Ukrainian Ombudsman’s Office.
«The illegal detention of Ukrainian journalists by the Russian Federation is a weapon used by the aggressor against freedom of speech», — the post reads.
The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, and the president of the American media corporation Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Stephen Capus, discussed the release of Ukrainian journalists illegally detained by Russia.
«One of the illegally convicted is Vladyslav Yesypenko, a Ukrainian journalist for Radio Liberty, who was detained and convicted in a fabricated case in Crimea», — the statement said.
Additionally, the representatives discussed ways to pressure Russia through the international community.
«Every Ukrainian citizen must be released from Russian captivity! Only by uniting around this goal can we force the aggressor to comply with the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law», — the Ombudsman’s Office stated.
As a reminder, Ukraine has banned Russian prisoners of war from making phone calls. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets announced this during a national telethon.
«We are changing some things. For example, there was much discussion about allowing Russian prisoners of war to call their relatives in Russia. As of now, they can still write letters, but they no longer have the right to make phone calls», — Lubinets explained.
He emphasized that the restriction does not violate the Geneva Conventions, as the document itself only guarantees the right to correspondence.
Currently, Ukraine operates four special camps for Russian prisoners of war, and according to Lubinets, the conditions in these facilities «comply with the Geneva Conventions.»
The call ban followed reports of increased ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Since early September, there have been several reports of Ukrainian POWs being executed by Russian forces.
The first such incident occurred on 3 September in the Toretsk sector of Donetsk Region. Russians posted a video online showing the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
According to details released by the Office of the Prosecutor General, three Ukrainian soldiers emerged from a basement with their hands raised as Russian forces approached. The occupiers forced them to lie face down on the ground and then shot them in the back almost immediately.
Another execution of a Ukrainian POW was reported on 6 September. A video was published by the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian state project «I Want to Live.» It shows a soldier lying on the ground, after which another man, apparently a Russian, approaches and shoots him.
Russians regularly execute Ukrainian prisoners of war, using not only shootings but also beheadings. Throughout the full-scale war, more than 60 Ukrainian POWs have been executed by Russian forces.