Militants Stop the Return of Prisoners from Donbas

Militants have decided that they can use prisoners for their own purposes and have completely blocked the possibility of returning prisoners from Donbas to Ukraine.

This was stated by the First Deputy Justice Minister, Natalia Sevostyanova, on the air of Channel 5.

“After the ATO began, we started to take all possible steps to bring the prisoners to Ukraine-controlled territory. The first attempts were successful. We managed return several groups of prisoners,” said Sevostyanova.

“Several groups and columns that we were returning were under constant fire and they had to go back. After that, we had no other way to return the prisoners.”

Earlier, it was reported that the Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Initiative oversaw the transfer of 23 people serving prison sentences in the so-called DNR into Ukraine-controlled territory.