Prosecutors of the department for control over the crimes committed under the conditions of the military conflict of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) have opened 14 criminal cases on the results of questioning the prisoners who were released during the prisoner exchange on December 29, 2019. The cases were opened under Part 1 of Article 438 (violation of rules of the warfare) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The released prisoners told the prosecutors about brutal treatment of the civilians, tortures, use of physical violence by fighters of the illegal armed groups of the so-called “DPR” and “LPR” (the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic”), the PGO’s press service said on January 20.
Some 160 detention facilities have been determined in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas, reads the statement.
The investigators of the Main Investigations Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have been charged with pre-trial investigations into the criminal cases.
As reported, on December 29, 2019, eighty-one Ukrainians were released during the swap of prisoners between Ukraine and the temporarily occupied districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that 76 arrived in Ukraine-controlled territory and six remained in the temporarily occupied territory because their families were there. As many as 124 people were passed to the temporarily occupied districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On January 13, 2020, the PGO jointly with the SBU launched investigative procedures with the released prisoners.
