ICRC did not guarantee safety of prisoners from Azovstal – statement

OLHA GLUSHCHENKO — THURSDAY, 4 AUGUST, 2022, 05:23

The International Committee of the Red Cross has given explanations stating that it did not guarantee the safety of the defenders of Azovstal who were captured by Russia.

Source: Statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Quote from ICRC: "We did not guarantee the safety of prisoners of war once in enemy hands, because it is not in our power to do so. We made this clear to the parties in advance.

It is the obligation of parties to the conflict to ensure POWs are protected against acts of violence, intimidation, and public curiosity, as well as against the effects of hostilities..

Only the parties to the conflict can definitively ensure the safety of PoWs."

Details: The International Committee of the Red Cross stated that it does not have access to all prisoners of war, including the defenders of Azovstal.

Regarding Olenivka, the committee said: "The ICRC visited this location once, in May this year, to deliver water tanks for the facility.

But we did not have access to POWs held there on an individual basis – as per ICRC's modalities of work in detention facilities – and that continues to be the case."

The International Committee of the Red Cross also added that the organization acted as a "neutral intermediary" for the safe exit of the military from Azovstal.

Background: After the murder of prisoners of war in Olenivka by the Russian invaders, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence, the Security Service of Ukraine and the ombudsman of Ukraine demanded that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which acted as guarantors of the life and health of Ukrainian soldiers, send their representatives to the camp.

In addition, the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian Parliament - ed.] Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to organise a visit to the prison camp in occupied Olenivka which was destroyed by the Russians to examine the bodies of dead Ukrainian prisoners and communicate with the wounded.

The Russian Federation Defence Ministry said it had invited experts from the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to the camp  in Olenivka where the Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed.

Background:

• On July 29, Russian media reported on the shelling of a prison camp in Olenivka, Donetsk region, where Ukrainian prisoners were being held. Propagandists claimed that at least 53 people were killed.
• The General Staff of Ukraine denied the Russian Federation’s accusations that the strike was carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the General Staff, the Russians were trying to cover up the torture and killing of prisoners.
• The Intelligence Service believes that the killing of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, was organised by mercenaries of the Wagner Group on the personal instructions of Yevhen Pryhozhyn, without coordinating this with the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
• The Security Service of Ukraine intercepted telephone conversations in which the invaders confirm that it was Russian troops who were responsible for the explosion in the prison camp in occupied Olenivka, which killed at least 53 Ukrainian prisoners.
• Azov units have announced a hunt for those involved in the killing of prisoners in Olenivka.

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