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Ombudsman: Political charges brought against more than 100 Russians in Ukraine

There are grounds to assume that Russians detained in Ukraine were tortured

Russian Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights, democracy and rule of law, Konstantin Dolgov Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights, democracy and rule of law, Konstantin Dolgov

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

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MOSCOW, August 29./TASS/. Political charges have been brought in Ukraine against more than 100 Russians, according to available data, and there are grounds to believe some of them may have been tortured, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, Konstantin Dolgov, told Rossiya 24 television on Monday.

"It is reported that the so-called political charges may have been brought against more than 100 Russians, and we also have information that several hundred Russian nationals may be inmates of Ukrainian pre-detention centers and prisons," he said. "Many of them have been arrested or detained without the Russian authorities being duly notified," Dolgov added.

"Unfortunately, we have all grounds to assume that some of them may have been tortured or methods of torture have been practiced on them," the ombudsman said, adding that part of this information came from those affected.

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According to Dolgov, Kiev has not given an official answer to the question how many Russians were inmates of Ukrainian prisons.

"We are even more concerned against this background that there has been no reaction from the Ukrainian side to the note we referred through the Russian Foreign Ministry back at the end of June of this year, requesting information about the exact number of Russian nationals in pre-detention centers and prisons of Ukraine," the ombudsman added.

Moscow will continue demanding this information, he said.

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