12/04/2022 18:54

Shocking new evidence of Russia's violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners continues

As a result of the exchange, which took place on April 9, Hanna Gavrilina, the head of the village of Gremyach in the Chernihiv region, was released after 20 days of captivity.

The occupiers detained the woman on charges of allegedly "working as a fire adjuster" for the Ukrainian military.

At first, Ms. Anna was taken to a tent camp, where she was kept in the cold for a week, almost without sleep, and threatened with reprisals during daily interrogations: she was beaten on the head with a lock, shot over the head, and threatened to shoot her knees.

Then the woman was taken to a pre-trial detention center in Kursk (Russia), where her hair was cut for expressing her pro-Ukrainian position.

Ms. Hanna spoke about one Ukrainian compatriot girl who tried to hang herself on a prison sheet because of torture.

The treatment of Ukrainian prisoners by the Russian occupiers violates international humanitarian law, including Article 34 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949, which prohibits the unjustified detention of civilian hostages.

I appeal to the UN Commission for Investigation Human Rights Violations during the Russian Military Invasion of Ukraine and the expert mission set up by the OSCE participating States in accordance with the Moscow Mechanism to take into account these human rights violations in Ukraine.