Trump must remember those Ukrainian prisoners dying in Russia – Nobel winner Matviichuk to US President

Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) and winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, urged the US President Donald Trump to address the plight of Ukrainian prisoners in Russian custody, amidst his repeated assertions against loss of life in Ukraine. 

Oleksandra Matviichuk. Photo: CCL

During a press conference dedicated to the People First campaign to free Kremlin prisoners, she emphasised that President Donald Trump, who is currently negotiating with Russia, should not forget about the people who are dying in the war. In her opinion, he should remember the thousands of people, both civilians and prisoners of war, who are dying in Russian prisons.

“I personally interviewed hundreds of people who survived Russian captivity. They told me that they were beaten, raped, stabbed, electrocuted, and had their nails pulled out and drilled. One woman told me how her eye was gouged out with a spoon. It’s impossible to live in such horrible conditions,” says Matviichuk.

According to Matviichuk, US President and other politicians should also not forget about Ukrainian children illegally deported to Russia. While in Russian re-education camps, they hear every day that they are not Ukrainians, but Russians, and that they will be adopted by Russian families and raised as Russians.

Read also: Ukrainian teenager who was illegally transferred from Kherson region to Russia, where he was placed with a family in violation of international law, committed suicide

Matviichuk considers it abnormal when politicians talk about elections, minerals and concessions, but not about people. In her opinion, the human dimension must be returned to the negotiations. This must be done to stop the war and the loss of life.

A coalition of human rights organisations led by the Center for Civil Liberties and Memorial launched the People First! campaign against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s intention to initiate peace talks on Ukraine this year.

Human rights activists are convinced that the most important priority in reaching agreements during the negotiations should be the release of all prisoners of war as a result of Russian aggression. Among them are thousands of Ukrainian civilians held by Russia, thousands of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war, more than 20,000 children forcibly displaced or deported to Russia, and hundreds of Russian political prisoners imprisoned for protesting against the war.

The organisations demand:

• Release all Ukrainian civilians captured and illegally detained by Russia, unconditionally, with the possibility of returning home. People whose homes are in the territories controlled by Russia should be allowed to leave for the territory controlled by Ukraine.
• Return all illegally displaced or deported children to Ukraine.
• Return prisoners of war to their homeland through exchanges or other mechanisms. The Geneva Conventions require immediate repatriation after the end of active hostilities, but work in this direction should begin now.
• Release Russian political prisoners detained for anti-war statements or actions and ensure their freedom of movement, including the right to leave the country at will.
• Establish an independent international mechanism to coordinate these processes, monitor their compliance with international humanitarian law, and report regularly and transparently on progress.
• Immediately grant UN agencies and the ICRC full access to all captured, illegally displaced or deported children.

Additionally, the head of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG), Yevhen Zakharov, proposed to the Commission to establish deprivation of personal liberty as a result of armed aggression to change the assessment criterion in establishing the fact of illegal detention. He suggests that the Commission should consider such citizens as political prisoners who were detained by the Russians for no reason and who have not committed any offense. 

There is an additional issue of those who have been released from Russian captivity on their own and are not provided with documentation proving the deprivation of their liberty. As a result, they cannot access the state protection, benefits, and services afforded to such affected citizens. 

As per the Ukrainian legislation “On Social and Legal Protection of Persons in Respect of Whom the Deprivation of Personal Liberty as a Result of Armed Aggression against Ukraine and Members of Their Families Has Been Established”, both prisoners of war and civilians that were illegally imprisoned by the aggressor state are entitled to certain benefits and services. 

Still, they have difficulty accessing these state services, including a proper medical treatment, without documentation of the illegal imprisonment. This is an issue that human rights defenders have harshly criticised as it perpetuates these individuals’ vulnerability after their unlawful detention.

ZMINA has sent the information request the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine ignored, in which the editorial office asked what amendments to this law the ministry plans to initiate, taking into account the realities of the full-scale war and problematic issues during the work of the Commission on establishing the fact of deprivation of personal freedom as a result of armed aggression.