A Ukrainian Army soldier, left, stands guard as prisoners are exchanged between the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Ukrainian government on the outskirts of Yasinovataya, Ukraine, September 28, 2014. (Mauricio Lima / The New York Times)
An investigative delegation of the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture suspended an official visit to Ukraine last month after the Security Service of Ukraine denied the UN officials access to several parts of the country. The suspension of the visit highlights the dire situation of political prisoners in Ukraine.
The regions to which the delegation was denied access are areas where, as Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture Chair Sir Malcolm Evans stated, “We have heard numerous and serious allegations that people have been detained and where torture or ill-treatment may have occurred.”
These regions are located in the front line zones of Donetsk region, controlled by Ukraine. The Security Service has detention facilities in Kramatorsk, Mariupol and Artyomovsk, where it keeps Ukrainians with “pro-Russian” views, according to Larisa Shesler, the head of the Union of Political Emigrants and Political Prisoners of Ukraine.
Shesler is from Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine. At the beginning of 2014, she participated in peaceful protests against the Euromaidan, which, in the perception of protesters, threatened the dismantlement of the Ukrainian state. In May 2014, the Security Service opened a criminal case against her on accusations of “separatism,” and she fled to Moscow.
By the end of 2014, Shesler and her comrades — political exiles like herself from Kherson, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Lviv, Ternopil and other cities — organized the Union of Political Emigrants and Political Prisoners of Ukraine. One of the main activities of the Union is human rights advocacy for political prisoners in Ukraine, because the prisoners’ existence is not reported in Western media and not even reported well in Russia. The Union maintains a…