Denisova told the US Deputy Secretary of State about political prisoners and blocked borders checkpoints
Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova and US Deputy Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Kara MacDonald discussed the observance of citizens' rights in the occupied territories.
Lyudmila Denisova wrote about this on Facebook.
and prolonged aggression along Ukraine's borders, which violates the right to life and security.
According to Denisova, there are two out of 7 checkpoints in eastern Ukraine - Stanytsia Luhanska and Novotroitske. Due to the blockade of the checkpoints, Ukrainians from the temporarily occupied territories cannot receive pensions and social benefits.
She also stressed that 280 people, including 44 servicemen, are still being held illegally in the mentioned territories. 258 Ukrainian citizens are missing. Russia is politically persecuting 133 Ukrainian citizens, 114 of whom are illegally imprisoned and imprisoned in Russia and the temporarily occupied Crimea.
The Ombudsman also stated that in the occupied territories, in particular in the occupied Crimea, a ban on freedom of speech has been in effect for the past seven years. Journalists are pressured, tortured, illegally detained, searched and threatened. Proof of this is the situation with the illegal detention in Crimea of Radio Liberty journalist Vladislav Yesipenko.
The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner informed about the measures taken to restore his rights and release him.
Read also: Detention of journalist Vladislav Yesipenko in the occupied Crimea. Everything that is known
The parties also discussed the state of observance of human and civil rights in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, observance of the rights of members of the LGBTI community and the problem of exacerbation of domestic violence.
Denisova answered MacDonald's questions concerning the observance of the rights of members of national minorities and problematic issues related to the prevention of domestic violence.
The Ombudsman thanked the Deputy Secretary of State for the high assessment of the work of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner, as well as for the proposal to continue bilateral cooperation in the field of protection of human and civil rights and freedoms.
What is known
- During the Russian occupation of Crimea, which began in 2014, 43 people were abducted on the semi-island.
- On 30 of March, the US State Department has published a report on 2020 on human rights in the world, in which a significant section is devoted to Ukraine and the occupied Crimea.
