UN: Russia will commit a war crime if it illegally tries Ukrainian prisoners

The UN said Russia would commit a war crime if it illegally harassed and publicly ridiculed Ukrainian prisoners of war captured after the fall of Mariupol.

Spokesman for the Office of Human Rights UNRavina Shamdasani said that there are clear signs that Russia and armed groups acting on their orders in Donetsk (eastern region Ukraine) is preparing a trial of prisoners of war who will be placed in cells that he is building in a public building in Mariupol.

“In the press and in social networks there are videos and photos of the construction of huge cells on the territory of the Mariupol Philharmonic, and the idea was to place prisoners in these cells during hearings, and this is unacceptable, this is an act. humiliation,” he explained.

Shamdasani specified that international humanitarian law “prohibits the establishment of courts for the sole purpose of trying prisoners of war, which deprives the defendant of the right to a regular and fair trial and amounts to a war crime.”

He pointed out without hesitation that the “Federation Russia will be liable for a war crime” if these trials are carried out as feared.

In accordance with international standards establishing minimum rules in time of war, combatants with POW status are immune and cannot be prosecuted for participation in hostilities or lawful hostilities committed during a fire, even if such acts are contrary to national law. .

We are talking about those prisoners who defended Mariupol and, in particular, the Azovstal steel plant, which fell in May last year, but how many exactly is unknown.

Without due process?

UN There is also no information about who will form the court, who will take on the defense (there are fears that this will be a fictitious defense), and what crimes they will be charged with.

“We are concerned that due process is not being followed,” the spokeswoman added.

Due process includes the right of the accused to choose his own defense and to meet with him in confidence.

Shamdasani recalled that in the context of the war in Ukraine there were trials in which POWs were accused of being mercenaries and given death sentences “and we are concerned that this may happen again.”

Authorities appointed Russia in Mariupol, Ukrainian prisoners of war were called “terrorists”, “Nazis” and “war criminals” contrary to the elementary principle of the presumption of innocence.

UN did not receive government approval Russia enter the places of internment of Ukrainian prisoners of war, neither on its own territory, nor on the territories of Ukraine controlled by it.

He has also not received a response to his request to ensure respect for these prisoners during the trial, which, by all indications, may take place in the coming days.

(As reported by EFE)

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