Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Heraschenko said that the investigation conducted by volunteers under the leadership of Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Polish Sejm Malgorzata Gosiewska and entitled "Russian war crimes in Eastern Ukraine" is a significant event and an evidence of "supporting not only Ukraine, but also fairness of the values dominating in the European Union."
At a meeting with Malgorzata Gosiewska, I.Heraschenko said that at this particular time held is a trial of the Russian servicemen of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia. According to her, the sentencing of these criminals is another proof of those facts that will lead to the punishment of the representatives of the Russian Federation, who violated the provisions of international law.
Deputy Chairperson of the Parliament said that this week PACE will consider at its meeting the issue of infringement of the rights of Ukrainian prisoners, including people’s deputy of Ukraine Nadiya Savchenko. "The issue of releasing the hostages and keeping many of them in the territory of Russia is one of the key aspects of the implementation of the Minsk agreements,” she said. “We are grateful to the Polish side for joining the demands of the international community on this issue."
I.Heraschenko reminded that among the missing persons are 681 people the search for whom is still continuing. "Our task is to find these people. The Red Cross shall be allowed to conduct search operations in the occupied territory," she said.
According to her, "an attempt to link the release of hostages to the amnesty is impossible as the amnesty is not carried out until the hostilities are terminated." Heraschenko promised to inform President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko that "Ukraine has friends who with their actions draw attention to the situation in the East." In her opinion, today "we can not speak about suspension of sanctions against Russia, as the Russian Federation has fulfilled not a single condition of the Minsk agreements."
MP Artur Herasimov, the Head of the Permanent Delegation to the OSCE PA, noted that the report is an evidence of the crimes that took place in Eastern Ukraine. "We are really presenting this report in the Ukrainian parliament as the Russian Federation by all means tries to prove that it is not present in Ukraine. And we have evidence of inhuman treatment,” he stressed. “Inhuman torture must be punished."
Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Polish Sejm Malgorzata Gosiewska said that she collects data on the hostages and tortures against them, "and all these facts must be sent to the courts in The Hague."
The report was presented by the MEPs in Brussels on April 5, 2016, and is based on the testimony of more than 60 victims.