On December 28, a new petition submitted by Tamila Aleksyk on behalf of “the wives, mothers and sisters of our defenders who are now in captivity” was published on the website of the President of Ukraine.
In the petition, the author calls for the Russian prisoners of war who are currently being held in detention camps in Ukraine to be deprived of the opportunity to call their relatives in Russia.
Tamila Aleksyk points out that Ukrainian servicemen held captive in Russia are currently deprived of the opportunity to have telephone communication with Ukraine. In addition, Ukrainian captured defenders are also deprived of a stable opportunity to correspond with their relatives.
The author of the petition notes that the Geneva Conventions do not provide for the obligation to provide telephone conversations with relatives for captured participants in armed conflicts. Given this, Ukraine will not violate any international obligations if it abolishes the right of Russian prisoners to call their family members in Russia.
The appeal states that the families of the captured Ukrainian Defenders are deprived of the right to any information about the health status or whereabouts of their relatives in Russian captivity.
“We write letters to our husbands, sons and brothers, but we don’t even know if they reach them. The ICRC is as silent about this as the Russians are,” the author of the petition notes and adds that not all relatives of the prisoners even know if their loved ones are alive.
Therefore, Tamila Aleksyk is asking to suspend the right to telephone communications for prisoners until the Russian Federation also provides our defenders with the opportunity to use telephone communications on a regular basis.
“The further possibility for enemy prisoners to contact their relatives should depend on the policy of the Russian Federation towards our defenders,” the author of the petition believes.
As of the time of publication, 552 people out of the 25,000 required have signed the petition. If the petition garners more than 25,000 votes within the next 91 days, the President must respond to it.
You can sign the petition here: Suspend the right to telephone communications for Russian prisoners of war (kmu.gov.ua)
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