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Fifteen people go missing in DPR over last week — human rights ombudsperson

Nine civilians and six DPR militiamen are among them

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/. Fifteen residents of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have been illegally detained by Ukrainian forces or gone missing over the last week, DPR office of human rights ombudsperson Daria Morozova said on Monday.

"The Office of human rights ombudsperson of the Donetsk People’s Republic registered 15 people going missing or being illegally detained from August 29 to September 4. Among them are nine civilians and 6 DPR militiamen," Donetsk News Agency quoted the DPR human rights ombudsperson’s office as saying.

The office stressed that DPR authorities that demonstrate readiness to compromise, are waiting for confirmation of Kiev’s serious intentions to implement the Minsk agreements.

Prisoner exchange on "all for all" basis is one of the key points of the Package of measures on implementation of the Minsk agreements signed in Minsk on February 12. The package of measures also envisages "pardon and amnesty by adopting a law banning persecution and punishment" of residents for events in Donbas.

Minsk agreements on Ukraine

The Minsk accords were signed on February 12, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The Minsk accords envisage ceasefire, weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local election in Donbas, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.

The Ukrainian forces and the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.