Commissioner: Ukraine has unofficial data on Dmytro Khyliuk's location

Dmytro Khyliuk. Photo by the Media Initiative for Human Rights

Ukraine has unofficial data on the whereabouts of UNIAN correspondent Dmytro Khyliuk, who was kidnapped by the Russian troops, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said at a briefing on July 9, reports Ukrinform.

According to the Commissioner, the Russian side has not officially informed him where Dmytro Khyliuk is.

"So I cannot officially confirm his location. Unofficially, we have this data. What are we doing regarding the use of torture against him? Two weeks ago, I was on an official visit to PACE, I had a meeting with the top PACE officials, we had two side events as well. One of these side events was dedicated to the issue of civilian hostages who are journalists. There, we raised the issue not only of Dmytro, but of all journalists. Among other things, we provided our international partners with lists so that, perhaps, they could use their communication channels to bring them home," said Lubinets.

He emphasized that the PACE can develop and adopt a separate resolution on the unlawful detention of Ukrainian civilians, including journalists.

"I hope that such a resolution will be adopted at the next PACE session in October. At least there is an agreement on this with the PACE President, the Secretary General, and the newly elected President. I also met with the four largest PACE parliamentary groups, and they all support this idea," Lubinets added.

The Commissioner noted that he raised the issue of Dmytro Khyliuk separately.

"The only thing I can promise is that I will raise this issue again and again in my next communications," Lubinets stressed.

The detention of UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khyliuk

On July 13, RSF reported that Dmytro Khyliuk, UNIAN journalist abducted by Russian soldiers in March 2022, is possibly in one of the prisons in the Vladimir region of Russia.

UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khyliuk has been in Russian captivity since March 2022 as a civilian hostage. Such prisoners should be released separately from POW swaps, but the Russians are not doing this.

In May 2023, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said that he was personally monitoring the issue UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khyliuk's release from Russian captivity.

The Prosecutor General's Office has opened a case regarding the abduction of civilians on the territory of the Dymer hromada. The investigation considers journalist Dmytro Khylyuk and his father victims. The case was opened under Part 1 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code (violation of the laws and customs of war).

Russian soldiers kidnapped Dmytro Khyliuk on February 26, 2022, in the garden of his own house in Kozarovychi. He was first kept in the occupied Dymer, and then taken to a prison in Russia.

In December 2023, Dmytro Hylyuk was awarded by the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.

The Russian Ministry of Defense does not explicitly say that the UNIAN journalist Dmytro Khyliuk is being kept in detention as a prisoner of war, but cites the Third Geneva Convention, which specifically concerns POW treatment, in response to his father's request.