Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova has said Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court does not have jurisdiction on the issue of extending the preventive measure for two dozen Ukrainian prisoners of war seamen. She said the court’s rulings are predetermined.
“This is a judgment against our prisoners of war seamen. No court can consider this case, except for a military court. I think that today everything is already predetermined,” Denisova said outside the court in Moscow on Jan. 15 morning.
“We know Crimea is Ukraine. The seamen did not violate any borders. They acted in accordance with their status and followed orders,” she said, adding that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) head Alexander Bortnikov has not responded to her request to visit the Ukrainian POWs.
Ukraine’s ombudswoman said the two dozen captive Ukrainian seamen have been divided into six groups of four people each. Court consideration of extending pretrial detention of the first three groups had already begun.
“The cases of the first three groups will be considered at 9:30,” Denisova said on Facebook on Jan. 15 morning.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin commented on the proceedings.
“Court hearings involving our POW sailors in Moscow were closed. Those who have something to fear are hiding,” Klimkin said on Twitter.
As earlier reported, on November 25, Russian border guards attacked and captured three Ukrainian naval vessels en route from Odesa to Mariupol near the Kerch Strait. The crews were then arrested and transported to Moscow. They are charged with illegal border crossing.
