From January 1 convicted Crimean prisoners will be sent to correctional labor centres in Russia

Relocation of Crimean residents in order to serve their sentence outside the peninsula is a crude violation of the Geneva Convention.

At the beginning of the new year “courts” in the occupied by Russia Crimea will appoint a new form of punishment – correctional labor in Russia.

This information was published on the website of the Court of Sevastopol.

“According to amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which will take effect from January 1, 2017, forced labour will be used as an alternative to imprisonment if the sentence does not exceed five years. The court can sentence the accused to corrective labour for a minor or moderate crime, or even a serious one.” – the statement says.

There are no specialized centres in Crimea for serving a criminal sentence in a form of correctional labor. Therefore, according to the current de facto Russian legislation on the peninsula, Crimeans will be relocated to Stavropol Krai, the closest correctional centre to the Crimea.

“To this day, Russia has already organized four special centres and the closest one to Crimea is located in Stavropol Krai”, – informed on the website of the Court of Sevastopol.

Experts of the Crimean Human Rights Group draw attention to the fact that the relocation of Crimean residents to serve their sentence in a form of correctional labor beyond the borders of peninsula is a crude violation of part 1 of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

In the UN General Assembly Resolution of December 19, 2016 titled “Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)” Russian Federation is designated as an occupying power and Crimea as temporarily occupied territory.

According to the p. 1 of Art. 49 of the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive. Therefore, this means that Russian government has no right to relocate the Crimean residents to the territory of Russia against their will.