{"id":253692,"date":"2016-07-03T20:11:46","date_gmt":"2016-07-03T20:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/mh-17-probes-torture-implicated-ally\/"},"modified":"2016-07-03T20:11:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-03T20:11:46","slug":"mh-17-probes-torture-implicated-ally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/mh-17-probes-torture-implicated-ally\/","title":{"rendered":"MH-17 Probe\u2019s Torture-Implicated Ally"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"247.02589775681\">\n<p><strong>Exclusive:<\/strong> The Ukrainian intelligence service at the center of the inquiry into who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is accused by a top U.N. official of blocking a probe into Ukrainian government torture, reports Robert Parry.<\/p>\n<p>By Robert Parry<\/p>\n<p>A senior United Nations official has accused Ukraine\u2019s SBU intelligence service of frustrating U.N. investigations into its alleged role in torture and other war crimes, even as the SBU has been allowed to guide the international investigation into the shooting down of Malaysia Airline Flight 17 for nearly two years.<\/p>\n<p>On June 29, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20214&amp;LangID=E\">criticized<\/a> various \u201carmed groups\u201d in Ukraine for engaging in torture and arbitrary detention, adding that \u201cThe Security Services of Ukraine (SBU) is also not always providing access to all places where detainees may be kept.\u00a0\u2026 OHCHR (the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights) also continues to receive accounts about torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary and incommunicado detention by the SBU, especially in the conflict zone.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17981\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" readability=\"35\"><a href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/CDQpviUVEAABdNc.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-17981\" src=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/lazy-load\/images\/1x1.trans.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/CDQpviUVEAABdNc-300x174.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph of a Russian BUK missile system that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt published on Twitter in support of a claim about Russia placing BUK missiles in eastern Ukraine, except that the image appears to be an AP photo taken at an air show near Moscow two years earlier.\" width=\"300\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/CDQpviUVEAABdNc-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/CDQpviUVEAABdNc-160x93.jpg 160w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/CDQpviUVEAABdNc.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-17981\" src=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/CDQpviUVEAABdNc-300x174.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph of a Russian BUK missile system that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt published on Twitter in support of a claim about Russia placing BUK missiles in eastern Ukraine, except that the image appears to be an AP photo taken at an air show near Moscow two years earlier.\" width=\"300\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/CDQpviUVEAABdNc-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/CDQpviUVEAABdNc-160x93.jpg 160w, https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/CDQpviUVEAABdNc.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photograph of a Russian BUK missile system that U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt published on Twitter in support of a claim about Russia placing BUK missiles in eastern Ukraine, except that the image appears to be an AP photo taken at an air show near Moscow two years earlier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cTorture and threats to members of the families, including sexual threats, are never justifiable, and perpetrators will be held to account sooner or later. \u2026 War crimes, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of human rights cannot be the subject of an amnesty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In late May, U.N. inspectors called off their Ukraine torture investigation because the SBU denied the team access to detention facilities where human rights groups had found evidence of torture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis denial of access is in breach of Ukraine\u2019s obligations as a State party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture,\u201d according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20017&amp;LangID=E\">the U.N. statement<\/a> at the time. Sir Malcolm Evans, head of the four-member U.N. delegation, said: \u201cIt has meant that we have not been able to visit some places where we have&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2016\/07\/03\/mh-17-probes-torture-implicated-ally\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exclusive: The Ukrainian intelligence service at the center of the inquiry into who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is accused by a top U.N. official of blocking a probe into Ukrainian government torture, reports Robert Parry. By Robert Parry A senior United Nations official has accused Ukraine\u2019s SBU intelligence service of frustrating U.N. investigations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-253692","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253692\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}