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How can Ukraine help Ukrainian prisoners deported to Russia return home?
Source: Zmina
Author: Inna Vyshnevska
Human rights violations committed by the Russian Federation during its armed aggression against Ukraine have become systematic and widespread. One such violation is the deportation of penal institutions and the unlawful deportation of prisoners from the temporarily occupied territories (hereinafter “TOT”) of Ukraine, which may constitute a war crime and/or a crime against humanity. In this case, prisoners are people in a particularly vulnerable position, as, having restrictions on the exercise of their rights due to their deprivation of liberty, they cannot, under these circumstances, fully take measures for their own protection, particularly legal protection.
The root of the problem of the forced relocation and deportation of Ukrainian prisoners dates back to 2014, when the occupation of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions began. It was then that the Russian Federation began implementing measures aimed at relocating penal institutions and deporting convicts, and the scale of the problem has only grown since then.
The situation became particularly acute after February 24, 2022, when the Russian Federation launched a full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. The number of prisoners who found themselves in the occupied territories increased significantly due to the Russian Federation’s occupation of new territories. While in 2014 there were approximately 16,000 convicts in 36 correctional facilities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, 29 of which were located in combat zones or occupied territories, by February 2022, the number of facilities had risen to 47, and the number of prisoners had reached approximately 19,100.
The question of a systematic solution to the problem of returning Ukrainian citizens who were deprived of their liberty in accordance with Ukrainian law and deported to the territory of the Russian Federation remains unresolved.
The purpose of this report is to investigate and analyze the illegal deportation of Ukrainian prisoners to the territory of the Russian Federation after February 24, 2022, to identify the methods and measures used by the Russian side to deport people, the key challenges they face upon returning to Ukraine, and to formulate recommendations for Ukrainian government agencies to address these issues.
The analytical report covers the period from February 24, 2022, to November 2024.
The text of the analytical report is available in Ukrainian and English.
Author: Inna Vyshnevska
Human rights violations committed by the Russian Federation during its armed aggression against Ukraine have become systematic and widespread. One such violation is the deportation of penal institutions and the unlawful deportation of prisoners from the temporarily occupied territories (hereinafter “TOT”) of Ukraine, which may constitute a war crime and/or a crime against humanity. In this case, prisoners are people in a particularly vulnerable position, as, having restrictions on the exercise of their rights due to their deprivation of liberty, they cannot, under these circumstances, fully take measures for their own protection, particularly legal protection.
The root of the problem of the forced relocation and deportation of Ukrainian prisoners dates back to 2014, when the occupation of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions began. It was then that the Russian Federation began implementing measures aimed at relocating penal institutions and deporting convicts, and the scale of the problem has only grown since then.
The situation became particularly acute after February 24, 2022, when the Russian Federation launched a full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine. The number of prisoners who found themselves in the occupied territories increased significantly due to the Russian Federation’s occupation of new territories. While in 2014 there were approximately 16,000 convicts in 36 correctional facilities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, 29 of which were located in combat zones or occupied territories, by February 2022, the number of facilities had risen to 47, and the number of prisoners had reached approximately 19,100.
The question of a systematic solution to the problem of returning Ukrainian citizens who were deprived of their liberty in accordance with Ukrainian law and deported to the territory of the Russian Federation remains unresolved.
The purpose of this report is to investigate and analyze the illegal deportation of Ukrainian prisoners to the territory of the Russian Federation after February 24, 2022, to identify the methods and measures used by the Russian side to deport people, the key challenges they face upon returning to Ukraine, and to formulate recommendations for Ukrainian government agencies to address these issues.
The analytical report covers the period from February 24, 2022, to November 2024.
The text of the analytical report is available in Ukrainian and English.
This is an automatic translation generated by DeepL.