Breaking news! Yesterday, for unspecified reasons, Latvia refused to accept 6 Ukrainian citizens deported from russia. In total, people spent three days on the bus, strapped to each other, with little to no food or water, after which they were returned to the TDCFC (Temporary Detention Center for Foreign Citizens) again.
This is not the first incident on the russian-Latvian border with former Ukrainian prisoners forcibly taken out of occupied Kherson.
UnMode recently wrote about a similar case: https://unmode.org/novosti/grazhdan-ukrainyi-nazvali-prestupnikami-i-otkazali-vo-vezde!.html
Recall that in the fall of 2022, more than 2,500 Ukrainians who were in the institutions of the penitentiary system of the temporarily occupied Kherson region of Ukraine were taken by russian special services through Crimea to the territory of russia.
One of the formal reasons for mass refusals is the fact of a criminal record and serving a sentence on the territory of russia. We emphasize that the prisoners who were in the Kherson colonies at the time of the occupation were cruelly, hastily and against their will taken out in violation of all possible norms for observing the rights of prisoners and subsequently redistributed to correctional institutions in russia. After the end of the term of serving the sentence, the released Ukrainians are transferred indefinitely to the local TDCFC (Temporary Detention Center for Foreign Citizens). There is currently no single mechanism for the deportation of such people.
Staying in the TDCFCs is illegal, in addition, this deprives Ukrainian citizens who have already been released on the territory of russia of their procedural status and a few rights in the status of convicts (for example, access to treatment).
Since January 2023, UnMode has been providing Ukrainian prisoners forcibly relocated to russia with comprehensive, diverse support, including providing direct legal assistance for release, as well as assistance in organizing a safe exit from russia to Ukraine.