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Semenivka village, Slovyansk district, Donetsk region
The first serious battle near the Regional Psychiatric Hospital, located in the village Semenivka (Slovyansk, international road Kharkov—Rostov, where at the time many checkpoints were established) started on May 5, 2014. On both sides there were many wounded, and although the doctors were psychiatrists, they provided first aid to survivors.
During the monitoring of the situation with shelling of civilian targets representatives of Lugansk regional human rights center ‘Alternative’ Valery Novykov and Denys Denysenko interviewed members of the psychiatric hospital staff who witnessed what was happening.
‘That day on of our employees died, he went outside the gates to check out, and a sniper killed him. The second employee tried to help him, to pull him aside, and received a gunshot wound in the leg. He then has been on medical treatment for several months..."
—said the doctor.
After 5th of May, shelling continued daily in the surrounding area. Hospital staff worked around the clock. Because of constant attacks, it was difficult to change the shift. It was impossible to get to hospital and back home. So sometimes the staff had to work for 3–4 days. On their way to the hospital, employees had to wait lying on the grass for 2-3 hours, waiting for the fire to halt.
In mid-May, 2014, a rocket hit the building of the hospital with patients, but did not explode and stuck in the floor of the dining room. Shrapnel damaged its wall. At this time, more than 500 people were in the hospital, including 420 patients. On May 25, all the patients were evacuated to other psychiatric hospitals under fire. After that, the staff members started to export medical records and equipment.
Once the hospital has stopped working, the institution was seized by illegal armed groups of the so-called "DPR". They were shelling the Ukrainian army positions with artillery guns and mortars from this territory. The roof, walls and partitions of the psychiatric hospital were severely damaged after evacuation of patients and staff. All windows and doors, as well as engineering services buildings and the following buildings: the main, hospital and laboratory building, children’s department, nutrition unit, laundry room, garages, fences, hospital buildings No 10 and 11 were completely destroyed.
During the period when the city was controlled by illegal armed groups of the so-called “DPR” (till July 5, 2014), three medical vehicles and a mobile disinfection chamber had been stolen from the hospital. The staff later managed to get four cars back.
Now psychiatric hospital operates in the city of Slovyansk. Only psychotuberculosis unit has been repaired in Semenivka, and it is planned to repair the children's department.
The publication was written in the frame of work of the Coalition "Justice for Peace in Donbass" on the project "The usage of methods and means of warfare prohibited by international law against civilian health facilities during an armed conflict in the east of Ukraine", carried out with the support of the International "Renaissance" Foundation.
Photo: Suspilne On September 15, human rights activists held campaigned near the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine requesting adopton of the...
Photo: Suspilne
On September 15, human rights activists held campaigned near the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine requesting adopton of the bill No. 2698 "On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine concerning the implementation of international criminal and humanitarian law."
The adoption of this draft law would harmonize Ukrainian criminal legislation with the norms of international criminal and humanitarian law. Ukrainian law enforcement officers would be able to correctly qualify crimes committed during the war in the East of Ukraine. The bill would make it impossible to amnesty people who have committed war crimes. Also, these cases cannot simply be closed by the statute of limitations.
The bill on war criminals No. 2689 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada in December 2019.
Former prisoners of war and representatives of public organizations took part in the action. Center for Civil Liberties, the Izolyatsia art fund and the Arts & Rights project were the organizers of the event.
53% of Ukrainians believe that only those persons whose guilt in war and other serious crimes will be proven in court should be pros...
53% of Ukrainians believe that only those persons whose guilt in war and other serious crimes will be proven in court should be prosecuted for cooperation with the authorities of the so-called “L/DPR.” This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine and in cooperation with the ZMINA Center for Human Rights.
In the course of the poll, Ukrainians were asked who should be prosecuted for cooperation with the authorities of the so-called “DPR” / “LPR”.
Half of the respondents, namely 53%, believe that it should be only those whose guilt in war and other serious crimes will be proven in court.
22% say that everyone who held leadership positions in the so-called “DPR” / “LPR” should be prosecuted .
7% believe that all residents of the occupied territories who somehow cooperated with the local authorities.
Another 3% believe that no one should be responsible.
Recently, on September, 4 human rights defenders organized a discussion in Pokrovsk "Are we ready for reconciliation?"
More than 100 mercenaries from more than 30 countries are fighting on the side of illegal armed groups in Donbass. Deputy Prosecutor...
More than 100 mercenaries from more than 30 countries are fighting on the side of illegal armed groups in Donbass. Deputy Prosecutor General Gunduz Mammadov mentioned this in an interview for Radio Liberty.
“The Office of the Prosecutor General registered criminal proceedings on the facts of the participation of more than 100 foreign citizens in the illegal armed formations of the Russian Federation in the armed conflict in Donbas against Ukraine. The geography of the countries of origin of mercenaries is very diverse and comprises more than 30 states, including France, the Czech Republic and even Chile. The largest number of them are from Spain and Serbia - 27 people, Moldova - 26, France - 20,” - said Mammadov.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, citizens of Bulgaria, Armenia, Italy, Spain, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Moldova, the Netherlands, Germany, and others, participated in the illegal armed groups in Donbas as well.
Mercenraies took part in various units, in particular, the so-called 14th territorial defense battalion "Prizrak", 11th separate motorized rifle regiment "Vostok", 7th separate motorized rifle brigade "Chistyakovskaya", 1st separate motorized rifle brigade "Slavyanskaya", separate reconnaissance battalion "Sparta," a separate assault battalion" Somalia ", illegal armed formations" Rusichi "," Wolf`s Hundred "," Bryanka USSR "and others.
Previously, in Kazakhstan, Yevgenii Shcherbak was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for mercenarism as part of the illegal armed formation in Donbas after the Russian Federation refused to grant him asylum.
The Secretariat of the Coalition «Justice for Peace in Donbas»
