Russian ombudsman violates rights of Ukrainian prisoners by publishing their photos without retouching – Denisova
Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova informed the UN Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations during the Russian military invasion of Ukraine and the expert mission created by the OSCE participating states about the violation of the Geneva Convention in respect of Ukrainian servicemen who fell into the Russian captivity.
"Ombudsman of the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova violates the rights of the Ukrainian military. Today, Russia's ombudsman paid a visit to the Ukrainian servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who were captured and are in one of the military units of the Black Sea Fleet in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The published photos taken during the visit, the face of Ukrainians was not retouched," Denisova said on Facebook on Saturday.
She said the Third Geneva Convention and Additional Protocol I, concerning the protection of prisoners of war, established that prisoners of war must be treated humanely in all circumstances and protected from any act of violence, as well as from intimidation, insults and the public interest.
"This includes the disclosure of photographs or video recordings, records of interrogations, private conversations or personal correspondence and other private data. The ombudsman of Russia violated the requirements of these acts in a publication about his visit to Ukrainian prisoners of war. I ask the UN Commission to investigate human rights violations during the military invasion of Russia to Ukraine and an expert mission created by the OSCE participating States in accordance with the Moscow mechanism, to take into account these violations of the rights of Ukrainian citizens by Russian officials, in particular ombudsman Moskalkova," Denisova said.
At the same time, she published a retouched photo of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The Ukrainian ombudsman also drew attention to the fact that during her visit on March 19 to one of the places of detention of Russian prisoners of war, no violations by Ukraine of the requirements of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War were revealed.
