DPR Calls on French Lawyers to Send Data on Kyiv’s Crimes in Donbass to ICC
DONETSK (Sputnik) — On Monday, a French delegation of human rights activists arrived in Donetsk for a four-day visit to talk to civilians and heads of local administrations and to collect facts about war crimes committed by Ukrainian forces against Donbass citizens to be shared among the wider public in France and Europe.
The French delegates visited the ruined Donetsk airport, Oktyabrskiy settlement, Debaltsevo and some other places severely damaged by the armed conflict.
“We are living under transport and economic blockade, the post service is out of order, and we appeal for your help, as colleagues, and ask you to deliver these materials. There are nine dossiers here. We ask you to send or hand over [this information] to prosecutors in the International Criminal Court,” Chairman of the DPR Bar Council Alexey Zhigulin told the French lawyers, while handing over the documents.
According to Zhigulin, these files contain the evidence by Donbass militia and civilians being tortured by Kyiv forces.
The French lawyers stressed that these “very important” documents would be delivered to the ICC upon their arrival in France.
Kyiv launched a military operation in Donbass in April 2014, after the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk rejected the new central government in Kyiv, that came to power after what they considered to be a coup, and proclaimed independence.
In February, Kyiv authorities and Donbass militias signed a deal on Ukrainian reconciliation in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, which stipulates a ceasefire, a weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, constitutional reforms to decentralize power in the country, and the granting of a special status to Donbass.