Presidential Adviser: violence towards Russian prisoners of war and civilians is unacceptable
Denys Karlovsky – Monday, 21 March 2022, 18:44
Oleksiy Arestovych, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, urged Ukrainians to not call for violence towards Russian prisoners of war as this is against international law.
Source: Oleksiy Arestovych, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, video address on Facebook
According to Arestovych: "No matter the atrocities committed by the enemy, no matter the strength of our thirst for revenge, we must not contravene the Geneva Convention [on the Treatment of Prisoners of War of 1929] which allows the elimination of the enemy on the battlefield but not violence towards prisoners [of war]. Neither can we call for revenge against civilians, children, women, or prisoners.
To do so is to act against the military and personal honour. Prisoners are inviolable. They have to be defended like we defend our own soldiers. And since they are defenceless, they need even more protection.
Let’s remain a European army and a European country."
Details: Arestovych stressed that according to international law, fighting is to take place between the armies of the combatant countries but not between military and civilians, or between armed soldiers and unarmed prisoners.
Background:
- On 14 March the Ukrainian government created a Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. According to Vereshchuk, there are 562 Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine, but she added that she was expecting additional data in the near future.
- Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova stated that temporary camps for Russian prisoners of war have been set up in Ukraine.
- Vereshchuk stated that Ukraine plans to either exchange prisoners of war with Russia or let them serve their sentences in Ukraine.
- Minister of Internal Affairs Denis Monastyrsky stated that entire units of the Russian army had surrendered themselves and their equipment to Ukrainian authorities.
