A total of 54 citizens of Ukraine held in prisons in territory not controlled by the Ukrainian government in certain areas of Luhansk region (CALR) were transferred to the Ukrainian authorities on Thursday, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova has said.
“During the transfer, 54 people were received from the representatives of the “LPR” [so-called Luhansk People’s Republic]. Among them, the youngest was 26 years old and the oldest was 61. These convicts lived in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkov, Zaporizhia and Kirovohrad regions and the city of Kyiv,” Denisova wrote on her Facebook page on Thursday.
According to her, right after completing all the required procedures, by the end of the day one person will be released due to the expiration of the sentence.
Also 10 criminal cases were transferred, in which convicted persons will be able to appeal to the judicial authorities on appeal or cassation. The right of these citizens to free access to justice will be restored, Denisova said.
The ombudsman said that this transfer of prisoners, which took place on the bridge near the town of Schastia in Luhansk region, was the seventh in a row. In total, since December 2018, 373 convicted citizens of Ukraine were received from the occupied areas of Luhansk region, and 13 were received from Donetsk, of which 105 were released.
“Work in this direction continues and it is under the personal control of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky,” Denisova said.
