Russia is using the quasi-entities in the "L/DPR" to do things that can not be done in Moscow – Reshetylova on the "sentences" to servicemen
The Russians' trials against the Ukrainian military are an element of pressure on the Ukrainian society and have no legal validity.
The Media Initiative for Human Rights coordinator, Olha Reshetylova, stressed this at the online livestream "Maksym Butkevych et al.: quasi-courts in the occupied territories of Ukraine and their illegal sentences to Ukrainian POWs."
"We don't know about it, but there may be some prisoner swap negotiations going on now, or it's their (the Russians' – Ed.) effort to, pardon the marketing slang, "pad the price" of our servicemen in order to have a stronger position in the swap talks," added Reshetylova.
She noted that such trials have been happening in the occupied territories since 2014, and Russia is using the quasi-entities in the "L/DPR" to do "things that can not be done in Moscow."
"We know of cases when servicemen were sentenced to death. Fortunately, we have no reports of such sentences being implemented, but we do know about the sentences. Or, you remember, after February 24, they also tried to set up a tiral in Mariupol. Russia has a moratorium on the death penalty, but through the hands of the quasi-legal systems it has created in the occupied territories, they allow themselves to do it," explained the Media Initiative for Human Rights coordinator.
She stressed that such "sentences" look terribly cruel, and reminded that the "DPR" group had sentenced Ukrainian military officer Volodymyr Voskoboinyk to 30 years in prison.
As IMI reported, the "courts" of the ORDLO sentenced Ukrainian human rights activist and POW Maksym Butkevych to 13 years in a high-security prison.
Help us be even more cool!
