She's Fighting for Ukraine to Remember Its Prisoners of War

[TomSea]

She's Fighting for Ukraine to Remember Its Prisoners of War | OZY
Dan Peleschuk

Oleksandra Matviychuk hasn’t quite gotten used to it. Who could? Fielding firsthand accounts of torture that include severed fingers and gouged-out eyes are enough to rattle even the hardiest of human-rights defenders. But debriefing those freed from rebel captivity has become a devastating reality of her work as a crusader against the politically motivated detention of Ukrainians, both at home and abroad, amid the government’s war with Russian-backed separatists.

For more than five years, Ukrainian troops have faced off against Kremlin-supplied fighters who’ve claimed two eastern regions. Since the war began in April 2014, researchers have recorded abuses on both sides of the line. But the virtual lawlessness in those rebel statelets, combined with propaganda-fueled grievances against the Ukrainian government, means civilians even vaguely suspected of treachery often face brutal treatment. Captured soldiers are even less lucky.



“Some people explain how they can’t sleep because they still hear the sound of Scotch tape being unraveled,” Matviychuk says with a focused intensity. Authorities in Russia and Crimea, which the Kremlin annexed from Ukraine shortly before the war began, have waged their own legal campaign against those accused of supporting an allegedly “fascist” government in Kyiv.

...



Read more at: https://www.ozy.com/the-new-and-the-next/one-womans-fight-for-ukraine-to-remember-its-prisoners-of-war/226848/