Ukraine Deserves Justice
Today, February 24 marks the third anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. In three days, February 27 will mark 11 years of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started in 2014 in Crimea.
The territories occupied by Russia in 2014 and 2022 face the same reality. Russia does not only take control over the territories but tries to integrate them “back” in an attempt to make these communities Russian. Any group that attempts to prevent this or stand out is to be eliminated, isolated or forced to flee.
In Crimea it has been pro-Ukrainian activists, Crimean Tatar leaders and activists, Islam religious communities and any other groups or persons perceived as opposing the Russian region (human rights defender, journalists, lawyers). Dozens were executed or kidnapped, especially between 2014 and 2016, and hundreds have been arbitrary detained with detentions still held to this day.
In newly occupied territories, jointly with its partners, OMCT has documented a policy of systematic violence against Ukrainian civilians perceived as disloyal by the Russian military. This very large group includes former military and law enforcement officers, members of local governance, opinion leaders, civic activists, entrepreneurs. People were also targeted for being subscribed to Ukrainian news channels on social media, listening to Ukrainian music, having symbolic photos on their phones, or tattoos with Ukrainian patriotic symbols. Sometimes solely for their opinion, sometimes because they were suspected of cooperating with the Ukrainian state because of their profiles, people have been executed, tortured, abducted, kept in detention for years now without any trial or communication with loved ones, in detention conditions that no one should ever experience. Ukrainian law enforcement and civil society have discovered torture chambers and mass graves in liberated cities in 2022. International bodies, including the UN and ICC, have recognised that this situation amounts to international crimes due to the systematic character of violations and large number of victims.
We do not have access to the territories that are still being occupied by Russia, nor do other international or civil society organisations. However, from the lack of information available, there are no grounds to believe that the policy described above has changed. Terrible violations continue there every day.
Tortured for Resisting Russian Occupation
On March 15, 2014, two weeks after the Russian troops entered Crimea, the body of a 39-year-old Crimea Tatar activist Reshat Ametov was discovered near a roadside in the vicinity of Simferopol, the capital of Crimea. 12 days earlier, on March 3, he went out to a single-man peaceful protest against the Russian occupation at the main square of Simferipol. His body showed clear signs of torture: numerous bruises and head injury, as well as exhibited a stab wound to the left eye. His head was bound with tape, and handcuffs were found near his body.
Eight years later, on March 24, 2022, another Ukrainian man, a 50-years-old writer and poet Volodymir Vakulenko was detained in his home, in village Kapitolivka, near the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region. He did not organise any protests, he just openly supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine, spoke Ukrainian, and wrote in his diary. In September 2022 when Izyum was liberated, Ukrainian law enforcement discovered the mass grave with identical wooden crosses. The body of Volodymyr Vakulenko with the signs of torture was found in the grave number 319. He was shot in the head with a Makarov pistol.
While impunity prevails, such tragedies will continue to take place, every day, wiping out the bravest, wisest, most talented people, destroying families, communities and societies that can never be rebuilt.
