06/05/2022 11:46

Commissioner: occupiers forcibly "nationalize" business and cars at TOT of Luhansk region

Seizure of property and harassment. Entrepreneurs in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk region report the forced "nationalization" of their business and cars.

In Starobilsk, Ukrainian entrepreneurs are under pressure from the so-called “LPR Trade Ministry”, which is forcing people to re-register their businesses with the newly created Tax Inspectorate.  In case of refusal, the actual "squeezing" of property and production facilities awaits people.

The occupiers are also forcing the residents of Starobilsk to re-register vehicles and install license plates on the cars of illegal armed groups "LPR".  In case of refusal, the cars are removed.

In the Belolutsk community of Luhansk region, business owners who have a pro-Ukrainian position plan to cease their activities because they do not want to be the occupiers' assistants and work under pressure.

The theft of property and threats to seize it in the occupied territories violate Articles 31 and 33 of the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.  They strictly prohibit the occupying State from applying coercion of a physical or moral nature to persons in the temporarily occupied territories, as well as from looting and confiscating property.

I appeal to the UN Commission for Investigation Human Rights Violations during the Russian military invasion of Ukraine to take into account these facts of human rights violations in Ukraine by the occupying power.

#ОБСЄ  #OSCE  #UN #ООН