Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova has opened proceedings due to the violation of the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens Oleksandr Kolchenko and Oleh Sentsov, on which measures are being taken to clarify the work done by Ukrainian state bodies under the 1983 Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (1983).
“Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova sent appeals to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov with the request to inform the ombudsperson before May 31 about the measures taken to respond to the unlawful imprisonment of Ukrainian citizens Oleksandr Kolchenko and Oleh Sentsov. After receiving the answers, the commissioner will study the materials and propose further actions on the release of Ukrainian political prisoners,” reads a report posted on the ombudsperson’s website on May 24.
Denisova analyzed all the information provided by Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova in previous years. In particular, the issue concerns the argument that Russia adopted a law according to which all citizens who, at the time of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, lived on the peninsula acquire Russian citizenship, except for those who, within a month, formally declare their intention to leave the previous citizenship, and, according to Moskalkova, neither Kolchenko nor Sentsov had done it.
“Ombudswoman Denisova is convinced that Ukraine cannot accept this argument in its work on the transfer of convicts, According to her, Crimea is Ukraine, and any Russian laws on the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are fake. Kolchenko and Sentsov officially stated during court sessions that they did not apply and do not intend to apply to the Russian side for the purpose of obtaining Russian citizenship. They have repeatedly said that they are citizens of Ukraine. The Russian Federation, in turn, did not recognize their Ukrainian citizenship and stated the impossibility of transferring prisoners to Ukraine in accordance with the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons,” the report says.
Denisova said that the argument of the Russian side regarding the automatic acquisition of Russian citizenship by Kolchenko and Sentsov cannot be accepted since this contradicts the peremptory norms of general international law.
“Based on this, the ombudsperson states that the rights of Kolchenko and Sentsov as citizens of Ukraine were violated and, guided by Article 101 of the Constitution of Ukraine, Articles 13 and 15 of the law of Ukraine on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine commissioner for human rights, opens proceedings on this fact,” the report says.
