Today UnMode together with our country partner in Russia, ANO “The Right of Everyone”, appealed to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation and the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation with a request to establish the whereabouts of about 2,500 people from among the prisoners held until October 2022 in the Kherson region and subsequently illegally exported through the Crimea to the territory of Russia.
UnMode representatives in Ukraine have been monitoring the situation about Ukrainian prisoners in Kherson region since the beginning of the war, due to the large number of requests for help from relatives of prisoners. We attracted the attention of the media and international human rights institutions, reported on the facts of gross violations of human rights in the Kherson colonies. Unfortunately, there was no response. Now that the Ukrainian prisoners have ended up on the territory of Russia, we are involving our Russian colleagues and partner organizations in solving this problem.
Next: the text of the appeal:
From November 01, 2022 to the present, the ANO "Right of Everyone" received several hundred appeals from relatives of convicts held on October 15, 2022 in Golopristan colony No. 7 of the Kherson region, who, starting from October 22, 2022 to November 3, 2022, were taken serving sentences in different regions of the Russian Federation. To date, none of the relatives of the convicts have received a notification about the location of the transported convicts either from the administration of the colony or from the prisoners themselves.
According to our data, about 2,500 people from among the convicts held until October 2022 in the territory of the Kherson region have now lost contact with their relatives and friends. We also draw your attention to the fact that most of the above-mentioned convicts have serious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV infection, and viral hepatitis.
Given the scale of the violation of the rights of convicts and close relatives, I ask:
1. Indicate whether the relatives of the above-mentioned convicts were notified of their whereabouts;
2. Indicate the regions and numbers of correctional institutions where convicts from IK No. 7 of the Kherson region were transferred;
3. Indicate whether all displaced convicts are provided with proper treatment;
4. Indicate how the issue is resolved with the convicts released after the expiration of the term of serving their sentence, given that they all have the citizenship of Ukraine and mostly live on the territory of Ukraine, what is the legal status of the released and serving the sentence convicts;
5. Do the displaced convicts have access to free legal aid, do members of the Public Monitoring Commissions visit them;
IMPORTANT!
If you, your organization, or your acquaintances know anything about the whereabouts and situation of Kherson prisoners in Russia, please contact us:
unmode.contact@gmail.com or Telegram +995 511 248 176
Anonymity, confidentiality, support are guaranteed.
UnMode comments: We expect to receive an official response to the request of the partner organization within 30 days. At the same time, we are initiating an appeal from UnMode and calling for urgent action by UN special committees. We hope that human rights organizations from all over the world will now join our initiative and literally flood the relevant state bodies of the Russian Federation with such appeals.
We hope that public outcry and the inclusion of the international community will not be ignored by the public state institutions called upon to protect human rights in Russia.
We note with sadness that today Russia is celebrating the Day of the Constitution, the norms of which are often violated by the state itself.
We are confident that we will be able to locate the 2,500 illegally deported Ukrainian prisoners.
Note: In accordance with Article 17 of the Penal Code of the Russian Federation, on the arrival of a convicted person at the place of serving a sentence, the administration of the institution or body executing the sentence is obliged, no later than 10 days from the date of arrival, to send a notification to one of the relatives of the convicted person of his choice, as well as to the victim or his legal representative, if any. in the personal file of the convicted person, a copy of the ruling or court order to notify the victim or his legal representative. This norm is also contained in the Internal Regulations. Also, the convicted person can independently call relatives by phone and inform about the place of serving the sentence. The administration of the correctional institution grants the convict the right to speak by telephone at his request. This right is provided for by Part 2 of Art. 92 of the Criminal Executive Code of the Russian Federation and the Internal Regulations of Correctional Institutions.
