Ukrainian civilians vanishing, languishing in Russian-run jails
KYIV, UKRAINE>> Alina Kapatsyna often dreams about getting a phone call from her mother. In those visions, her mother tells her that she’s coming home.
Men in military uniforms took 45-year- old Vita Hannych away from her house in eastern Ukraine in April. She never returned.
Her family later learned that Hannych, who has long suffered from seizures because of a brain cyst, is in custody in the Russian- occupied part of the Donetsk region.
Kapatsyna told The AP that it remains unclear why her mother — “a peaceful, civilian and sick person” who has never held a weapon — was detained.
Hannych is one of hundreds — and perhaps thousands — of Ukrainian noncombatants believed to be held by Russian forces for months following their invasion. Some are deemed to be prisoners of war, even though they never took part in the fighting. Others are in a sort of legal limbo — not facing any criminal charges or considered to be POWS.
Hannych was wearing only a sweatsuit and slippers when she was seized by Russian forces occupying her village of Volodymyrivka several weeks into the Feb. 24 invasion. It is still under Moscow’s control.
Her family initially thought she would come home shortly. Russian forces were known to detain people for two or three days for “filtration” and then release them, Kapatsyna said, and Hannych had no military or law enforcement connections.
When she wasn’t released, Kapatsyna and her 70-year- old grandmother started a search. At first, letters and visits to various Russian-installed officials and government bodies in the Donetsk region yielded no results.
“The answers from everywhere were the same: ‘ We did not take her away.’ Who took her then, if no one took her?” said Kapatsyna, who left the village in March for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Dnipro.
They finally got some clarity: Hannych was jailed in Olenivka, another Russian-controlled city, according to a letter from the Moscow-installed prosecutor’s office in the Donetsk region.
The jail staff told Kapatsyna’s grandmother that Hannych was
a sniper, allegations her family deems absurd, given her condition. Medical records seen by The AP confirmed that she had a brain cyst, aswell as “residual encephalopathy” and “general convulsive attacks.”
Anna Vorosheva, who spent 100 days in the same facility as Hannych, recounted squalid, inhumane conditions: putrid drinking water, no heat or showers, having to sleep in shifts and hearing new prisoners screaming from being beaten.
Vorosheva, 46, said she wasn’t told why she was detained, aside from “smirks and jokes about Nazis” — a reference to Russia’s false claims that what it calls its “special military operation” was a campaign to “denazify” Ukraine. She also said the staff told her: “Be happy we’re not beating you.”
Donetsk authorities labeled Hannych a Powand recently told the family she is imprisoned in the occupied city ofmariupol. It remains unclear when, if at all, she could be released.
Ukraine’s top human rights organization, Center for Civil Liberties, has requests concerning around 900 civilians captured by Russia since the war began, with more than half still in custody.
Dmy t ro Lubine t s , Ukraine’s human rights envoy, put the number even higher and said Friday that his office received inquiries concerning more than 20,000 “civilian hostages” detained by Russia.
Russian lawyer Leonid Solovyov told The AP he has amassedmore than 100 requests concerning Ukrainian civilians. He said he was able to help 30 to 40 confirm the person they looked for was in Russian custody without any legal status— just like his client, Mykyta Shkriabin.
The student from northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region was detained by Russia’s military in March and has been held ever since without charges or any legal proceedings.
Tetiana Shkriabina told The AP she learned from witnesses that Russian soldiers seized him.
Months later, Solovyov got confirmation from Russia’s Defense Ministry that Shkriabin was detained for “resisting the special military operation.” There is no such offense on the books in Russia, Solovyov said, and even if there was, Shkriabin would have been formally charged and investigated, but that hasn’t happened. Theministry refused to disclose hiswhereabouts.
When Solovyov filed a complaint to Russia’s Investigative Committee contesting the detention, it confirmed that there are no criminal probes opened against Shkriabin, that he is neither a suspect, nor an accused.
Shkriabin, who turned 20 in captivity, hasn’t been labeled a POW, the lawyer said, adding: “His legal status is simply a hostage.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment.