Human rights ombudsman wants to inspect bodies of killed Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka and meet those who survived the shelling

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO – FRIDAY, 29 JULY 2022, 20:36

Dmytro Liubinets, Human Rights Commissioner in Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian Parliament - ed.], has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to organise his visit to the penal colony in Olenivka that was shelled by the Russian forces on 29 July. He wants to inspect the bodies of the soldiers who were killed in the shelling and speak to those who were injured.

Source: Liubinets’s letter to Pascal Hundt, head of the ICRC delegation in Ukraine, obtained by Ukrainska Pravda

Quote from Liubinets’s letter: "I will be grateful if you could organise, in the nearest future, a visit for me in my capacity as the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as well as my representatives, to the site of the aforementioned crime in order to inspect the bodies of those killed and to talk to those who were injured."

Details: Liubinets has also asked Hundt to verify the identities of those killed in the Olenivka shelling, assess the state of the injured prisoners and ensure they have access to the necessary medical treatment as soon as possible – and subsequently to urgently inform the Ukrainian ombudsman about the outcomes of the above actions to enable further response on Ukraine’s behalf.

The ombudsman has noted that the Russians deliberately shelled the penal colony no. 120 in the occupied Olenivka using artillery.

Earlier: 

• On the morning of 29 July, Russian-aligned propaganda media reported the shelling of a penal colony in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, where Ukrainian prisoners are being held. Russia has claimed that at least 53 prisoners were killed.
• The General Staff of Ukraine reported that Russia shelled the penal colony in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, to cover up the torture and murders of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
• The Ukrainian Directorate of Intelligence believes that the killing of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, was organised by the Wagner Group [a Russian private military company - ed.] on the personal instructions of Yevgeny Prigozhin, without coordination with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
• The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) later disclosed intercepted telephone conversations in which Russian occupiers confirm that Russian troops were responsible for the explosion in the building where the Ukrainian prisoners were held.

Units of the Azov Regiment have announced a hunt for all those involved in the mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka on 29 July.

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