Officially: UN recognizes Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia to be prisoners of war

Ukrainian sailors captured by the Russian military near the Kerch Strait after the shelling of Ukrainian ships should be considered prisoners of war. This is stated in the report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, text of which is at the disposal of European Pravda.

"The OHCHR notes that, guided by the norms of international humanitarian law (Art. 4 (A) (1) and 4 (A) (4) of the Third Geneva Convention and Art. 43 and 44 of Additional Protocol I), 24 detained crew members may be considered prisoners of war protected by the Third Geneva Convention. In any case, they should use the status of prisoner of war until the competent court decides otherwise. The OHCHR recalls that prisoners of war, in particular, should be treated humanely, protected from acts of violence or intimidation and be provided with the necessary medical care", - the document says.

The document was published this week and outlines the human rights situation in Ukraine from November 16, 2018 to February 15, 2019. The report is in English, but translated into Ukrainian.

"OHCHR notes that based on the provisions of international humanitarian law, 119 the 24 detained crew members could be considered as prisoners of war and protected by the Third Geneva Convention", - the English text says.

Thus, the OHCHR has become the first international organization that recognized the captured Ukrainian sailors to be prisoners.

As previously reported, near the Crimea shores on November 25, 2018, the Russian military gave the stem, fired upon and captured the Ukrainian boats Berdiansk and Nikopol and the Yany Kapu tug boat, which were heading from Odessa to Mariupol through the Kerch Strait.

After the attack of the Russian border guards on the Ukrainian military boats and capture of the Ukrainian sailors, the Russian "courts" in the Crimea arrested 24 Ukrainian soldiers. Three of them were injured during the attack by the Russians.

Ukrainian servicemen charged under Part 3 of Art. 322 of the Criminal Code of Russia (illegal border crossing), they face up to 6 years in prison.

During interrogations, all the Ukrainian military told the FSB investigators under the protocol that they were prisoners of war.