Ukrainian woman who disappeared at Donbas check-point in early July returned to Kyiv-controlled area, hospitalized after torture
On Saturday, Ukrainian citizen Liudmyla Surzhenko, who has been held in captivity and tortured by militants in Luhansk region since early July, has crossed the contact line in Donbas and arrived into the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group Iryna Gerashchenko has said.
"Yesterday late at night, volunteers, Ukrainian Security Service officers and local authorities of Luhansk Regional Military and Civil Administration told me by phone that Liudmyla Surzhenko, who has hearing impairments and who disappeared a few weeks ago in the occupied territories, has crossed the Stanytsia Luhanska check-point. Liudmyla was immediately provided the necessary psychological assistance, now she is the hospital under the supervision of physicians. We learnt about Liudmyla's disappearance in July from her family, as well as concerned citizens and volunteers, who were very worried that she stopped getting in touch," Gerashchenko wrote on her Facebook page on Sunday.
Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the trilateral contact group added that during her captivity Surzhenko was tortured and on Monday during the skype conference dedicated to the issue of hostages in the format of the Minsk humanitarian group she will demand the OSCE coordinator in the group should visit Ukrainian hostages in the occupied territories, where the ICRC and other international organizations have not been allowed for a long time.
"This is wrong, that over the whole time of the Minsk group's work, the OSCE Representative has only once visited the Ukrainian hostages, and saw only a few, but not all of them. All international organizations have access to Ukrainian prisons. And all the instances of torture of Ukrainians by militants must be condemned both by Ukrainian and international courts. I hope that a criminal case has already been launched into the illegal detention and torture of Ms. Surzhenko by Russian-controlled militants," Gerashchenko wrote.
As reported, Liudmyla Surzhenko disappeared in early July when crossing the Stanytsia Luhanska check-point from the militant-controlled to government-controlled area of Luhansk region.
