You're reading: Foreign Ministry has no confirmation of Ukrainian detainees’ acquittal in Libya

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has not confirmed media reports that the Libyan military prosecutor's office has acquitted Ukrainians arrested in Libya on suspicion of working for the army of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"We follow closely the publications. We check the information. However, we have to rely on facts," the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Oleksandr Dykusarov, said at a briefing in Kyiv on April 2.

He said that they hadn’t received any documents or notifications on this matter so far.

"I do not have such a document yet," the spokesman said.

News emerged on September 5, 2011, that more than 20 Ukrainian nationals had been detained in Libya. All claim to be civilian specialists who came to Libya to work in local oil-industry facilities. The Ukrainians were accused of acting as mercenaries for former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Dykusarov said on March 29 that three Ukrainians were released from detention in Libya and returned home.

The Segodnya newspaper reported on April 2 that law enforcement agencies acquitted the Ukrainian detainees.