Section: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (Ukraine)
Prayers amid Mounting Terror on Birthday of Abducted Crimean Tatar Activist
17 July is the 31st birthday of Ervin Ibragimov, the Crimean Tatar activist abducted on May 24 this year from near his home. There has been no sign of him and there is nothing to indicate that the de facto authorities are making any real effort to find his abductors. That is if we assume that they were not behind his abduction …read more...
Crimean political prisoner’s brother also prosecuted
Yevhen Kostenko has been fined for showing disrespect to the judge who handed down a knowingly unjust sentence against his brother and Maidan activist Oleksandr Kostenko on May 15, 2015. The latter was sentenced to over 4 years’ imprisonment for an unproven offence during Euromaidan in Kyiv over which a court under Russian law had no...
UN report finds killings on both sides in Donbas, yet misses Russian soldiers
While warning that there must be accountability for all killings, and pointing out that some may constitute war crimes, the UN monitors prefer to ignore substantial evidence of direct engagement by Russian military personnel in the fighting in Donbas and in shelling from military positions in Russia …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights...
Controversial Ukrainian blogger / journalist Kotsaba freed after 18 months in prison
Ruslan Kotsaba, a controversial blogger and Ukraine’s first Amnesty International prisoner of conscience in 5 years, has had his conviction and 3.5-year sentence for supposed obstruction of the Ukrainian Armed Forces quashed. He was released in the courtroom after over 18 months held in detention …read more Source: Kharkiv Human...
A British Foreign Secretary who excuses Russia’s invasion of Crimea?
The new UK Prime Minister doubtless had her reasons for giving leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson a cabinet post. Making him Foreign Secretary, however, defies any comprehension. It is especially difficult not to view this as an affront to all those currently facing persecution in Russian-occupied Crimea given his extraordinary attempt to...
Kremlin-loyal ‘observers’ arrive to rubberstamp Donbas ‘primaries’ in breach of Minsk Accord
A “delegation of foreign observers from Finland and Serbia” has visited Donetsk as part of an elaborate, if farcical, attempt by the Kremlin-backed militants to bypass the commitments agreed in Minsk for holding local elections …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
To prevent further human suffering in the east of Ukraine, the rule of law has to be re-established
According to Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, “the conflict in the east of Ukraine remains the cause of enormous human suffering and loss of life. It is high time to put an end to it and ensure the effective prosecution and sanctioning of those responsible for human rights violations” …read more Source:...
Russian court rejects Navalny slander lawsuit over state TV ’spy’ claims
The verdict is in: accusing someone on Russian state television of being a Western spy with no evidence to substantiate the claim does not constitute slander — at least if that someone is opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Memorial demands Russia release Ukrainian Maidan Activist after surreal trial
The renowned rights group has demolished the charges against 22-year-old Andriy Kolomiyets, but also points out that the main indictment is grotesque since a court under Russian law has no jurisdiction over events between Ukrainian nationals in Ukraine. …read more Source: Kharkiv Human Rights Protection...
Ukrainian ATO fighter given suspended sentence for violent rape of schoolgirl
The Ivankiv District Court in Kyiv oblast court on June 10, 2016 convicted a 24-year-old man of violently raping a 16-year-old girl but decided that the fact of his military service in Donbas constituted an extenuating circumstance. The news came on the same day as an Aidar volunteer battalion fighter, facing very grave charges, was released from...
