Good morning,
We'll start the live blog today with a story by RFE/RL's Christopher Miller on some disquieting allegations surrounding Ukraine's national security service, the SBU:
Rights Groups Say 13 Released From Secret Ukrainian Jail, Allege Torture
KYIV -- Thirteen civilians who were allegedly held incommunicado, interrogated, and tortured after being rounded up “abduction-style” have been released from a secret jail run by Ukraine’s domestic security service, two prominent human rights groups say.
In a letter to Ukraine’s chief military prosecutor, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said 12 men and one woman who had been held at a detention facility in the eastern city of Kharkiv were set free by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on July 25 and August 2.
At least five people were still being held in secret detention at the Kharkiv facility, according to the rights groups’ letter, which was dated August 23 and made public on August 29. Some of those who were released had been held for weeks, others for months.
The SBU, which has said it has no secret jails, did not respond to RFE/RL’s requests for comment.
“The SBU has denied the existence of the secret prison in Kharkiv and the use of the practice of secret detention, both in public and in our private meetings with them,” Krasimir Yankov, a Kyiv-based researcher for Amnesty International, told RFE/RL.
In their letter, Amnesty International and HRW said the SBU’s continued denial of enforced disappearances and secret detentions “fosters a climate of lawlessness and perpetuates impunity for grave human rights violations.” They called on the office of the chief military prosecutor, Anatoly Matios, to take immediate steps to secure the release of those who remain in custody and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The recent releases, which Amnesty and HRW learned of through interviews with five of the freed individuals, followed the groups’ joint report on July 21 that accused Ukrainian authorities and pro-Kyiv militias of rounding up and abusing civilians suspected of supporting or having connections with Russia-backed separatists.
Besides the Kharkiv site, the report said detainees were held in secret SBU jails in the government-controlled eastern cities of Kramatorsk, Izyum, and Mariupol.
It also alleged that the Russia-backed separatists imprisoned civilians suspected of backing or spying for the Ukrainian government. Separatist leaders in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have called the allegations “absurd.”
The report detailed 18 alleged cases of arbitrary, prolonged detentions by both sides during the conflict, which has killed more than 9,500 civilians and combatants since April 2014. Fighting persists despite a February 2015 cease-fire deal signed by Ukraine, Russia, and the separatists, and little progress has been made on political steps to resolve the conflict.
“International humanitarian law acknowledges that during times of armed conflict there may be security grounds for temporary detention of civilians, but arbitrary detention is always prohibited, and parties to an armed conflict are required to ensure a legal basis and framework as well as basic safeguards for the detention of civilians,” Yankov said.
Allegations of torture by the SBU at secret jails were first raised by a group of United Nations (UN) inspectors in March.
In May, UN efforts to gain access to the facilities were thwarted by the SBU.
Because Ukraine is a party to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and the Optional Protocol to that agreement, UN inspectors should be able to make unannounced visits to any detention center.
Read the entire article here
Barring any major developments, that ends the live blogging for today.
From our news desk:
Germany, France, Poland Call For Efforts To End Ukraine Conflict
The foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Poland have agreed that there should be greater international efforts to reduce tensions in eastern Ukraine.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier made the announcement on August 28 after talks with his French and Polish counterparts in the German town of Weimar.
More than 9,500 people have been killed in fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s east since April 2014.
Steinmeier said there had not been sufficient progress in implementing the February 2015 Minsk accords aimed at settling the conflict.
"We have to work for a deescalation of the situation," the German minister said.
Western officials were talking with Moscow and Kyiv to encourage them to implement measures already agreed in the Minsk process, including local elections in the separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine, Steinmeier also said.
Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS