he Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted a resolution on Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia and Crimea, head of the Verkhovna Rada delegation to the PACE Volodymyr Ariev has said.
“Seventy-seven affirmative votes! Russia has again been pointed out to its crimes. I thank spokesperson Emanuelis Zingeris for the wonderful work,” he wrote on Facebook on June 28.
First Deputy Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament and Ukraine’s envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group’s humanitarian subgroup Iryna Gerashchenko said that the adopted resolution condemns the torture and inadequate conditions of detention of Ukrainian citizens – political prisoners in the Russian Federation. In addition, PACE told about the requirements for admission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other humanitarian organizations to the conflict zone and the territories occupied by the Russian Federation, to Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.
“PACE appeals to the Russian Federation with a demand to release Oleh Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh, Pavlo Hryb, other political prisoners and hostages both in the occupied Donbas and Crimea and from the prisons of the Russian Federation. They also demand access of the ombudsman to them,” Gerashchenko said.
According to her, the amendments of the Ukrainian delegation regarding the admission of doctors, humanitarian missions, and recognition that Ukrainians who are illegally kept in the occupied territories are prisoners, hostages of the Kremlin were adopted.
Gerashchenko said that the PACE resolutions “strengthen the responsibility of the Russian Federation, form an evidence base for international courts,” this is an important factor for Ukrainian lawyers and diplomats who are preparing suits in international courts against the Russian Federation about the torture of Ukrainians.
She said that there are no doubts that Russia would not react to PACE resolutions, but Ukraine cannot say silent.
“Only pressure and only attention to the issue of hostages at all international sites,” she said.
