Since the spring of 2014 the civilian population of the Donbas has been confronted with a toxic mix of violence and lawlessness, in which practically anything could land one in prison. Many of the detainees in the basement prisons of Eastern Ukraine were civilians. They were held without trial, for political rather than military reasons or simply as hostages, who could be traded against prisoners taken by the other side. A new form of war created new types of victims. It took a lot of time to get used to these unexpected kinds of victims and to create the categories needed in order to help them.
In an exchange of prisoners held during the last days of 2017–the biggest of its kind so far‑73 men and women were freed from illegal places of detention in the so called People’s Republics and allowed to return to the territories controlled by Kyiv. The Ukrainian government traded them against 233 of its own prisoners. Greeting the freed prisoners, President Poroshenko promised to do everything possible to make their return to civilian life as easy as possible. He spoke about his vision of turning the basement prisons into museums of the occupation after the liberation of the occupied territories. But before the dungeons on the other side can be turned into spaces of education, there remains a lot to do on this side too.
Freed prisoners of war mostly returned to government-held territory with a relatively soft landing. This was also the achievement of many influential interest groups, which defend the concerns of veterans. In contrast, those who became prisoners as civilians were often left completely to their own devices after their release.
Out of detention, into misery
Evhen Shlyakhtin, a native of the mining town of Stakhanov in Luhansk Oblast, worked in the city administration when his hometown was proclaimed a part of “Luhansk Peoples Republic” in the spring of 2014. Evhen organized a pro-Ukrainian event “for a United Ukraine”. He was publically accused of belonging to the far-right Praviy Sektor, and a recent stay in Poland was held as evidence against him. A neighbour pointed him out to the new powerholders in town. Evhen was arrested twice and taken to makeshift prisons in garages and basements run by separatist militias. When he was arrested for the first time, his colleagues at the city administration were able to negotiate him out after a couple of hours. He was beaten severely during this arrest. One of his jailors cut his trousers and belt with a knife. It was only with a lot of luck that his abdomen was not cut open. When the war tightened around Stakhanov in late summer 2014, Evhen was imprisoned again, this time for an entire month. During the first night, he was beaten so badly that several bones in his hands broke. When Evhen was released after a month, he managed to escape across the contact line into Ukrainian controlled territory. He arrived in Kharkiv, the nearest big city, penniless and with his hands still swollen from his injuries.
He turned to a clinic in Kharkiv, but without documents and cash was refused treatment there. Evhen had to rely on the support of fellow activists. The opportunity to live in the apartment of a volunteer eventually brought Evhen to Odessa. With a roof over his head he could start to address his financial problems and his still painful injuries. For months, he could not lift heavy loads, but all the jobs he was able to find required just that. Evhen needed help.
“I pleaded to all kinds of charitable organizations. Whom do they help? They help pensioners, families with many children, single mums, disabled persons… I was an able-bodied man, who happened to have been a detainee. There is no such category.”
Vitaly Dobrozhan also found himself in the “Luhansk Peoples Republic” after fighters occupied the town of Rubezhnoe, now again a part of the Ukrainian held territory. Vitaliy remained a civilian, but ran errands for the Ukrainian forces positioned near his home. This activity also landed him in an illegal place of detention in summer 2014. He was taken to the basement of Luhansk’s SBU headquarters, one of the buildings first occupied by separatist fighters. There, the wounds he was afflicted by abusive guards became inflamed. When his jailors realized his condition worsened, they set him free so he would not die on their watch. Vitaliy had to cross the contact lines to get medical treatment, because he was afraid that his knife wounds would attract suspicion by doctors in Luhansk and could get him in trouble with “LNR” authorities again. He too relied on the help of friends to cure his injuries. As a civilian, who became a prisoner, Vitaliy expected not much from the state and was provided with even less.
Former prisoners become their own advocates
Probably no peaceful state in the world is legally prepared for the situation, when it loses its monopoly of violence and whole swats of civilians are suddenly at the mercy of armed bands. The status of prisoners of war is at least regulated by international law and often has its reflection in national legislations. In Ukraine, it is now the initiatives of former prisoners that push forward a legal project that would provide those freed from illegal detention with the means for rehabilitation. The Ukrainian association of former prisoners, of which Evhen Shlaykhtin is a leading member, has started to actively promote such a legal project in late 2017. This legislation project take into account the needs of civilian detainees, their rehabilitation and the requirements of former detainees from the now occupied areas.
This is one more example of how the violence in Eastern Ukraine also has sparked civil self-organization. In the face of overwhelmed state institutions, volunteers often filled the gaps in legal or medical institutions. On the one hand it is not a good sign if civil society takes over permanently the core tasks of the government such as legal security and medical care. On the other hand, the robust response of civil society helped people like Evhen and Vitaliy to survive and put pressure on the state to adapt its laws.
On October 2 at 16:00 in Poltava Art Museum human rights defenders presented the publication "City, where the war had started" about...
On October 2 at 16:00 in Poltava Art Museum human rights defenders will present the publication "City, where the war had started" ab...
Interactive exhibition of testimonies "On the Rift" about the violation of rights of civilians during the war in Donbas was presente...
The Secretariat of the Coalition «Justice for Peace in Donbas»
04060, Kyiv, Ryzhska str., 73 G