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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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02Oct14
DPR sets up parliamentary commission to probe into Kiev's military crimes
The authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) have established a parliamentary commission to investigate Kiev's military crimes, the head of DPR's Supreme Council said in an interview with TASS.
"As for the military crimes committed in the DPR, the parliamentary commission to investigate them has been created," Boris Litvinov said. "Besides, we have several people who had been taken hostage. They are the witnesses of the crimes committed against them," he added.
Former captives said they were thrown into holes with corpses, their legs and ribs were broken and they were forced to sing the Ukrainian anthem and shout "Glory to Ukraine".
"These people remember which Ukrainian authorities tortured them and remember the buildings where this all happened, and know the faces of their victimizers," Litvinov said.
Next week, a human rights commissioner is due to be appointed in the republic, Litvinov said. "He will have aides. Some of them will start documenting facts of destroyed infrastructure in the republic, others will investigate the cases linked to the mass graves, while the others will be working with the living witnesses of crimes," he said.
Litvinov stressed that the republic's authorities have no plans to investigate the mid-July crash of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane near Donetsk. "Let this crash be investigated by competent international specialists -- Russian, Dutch or British -- what they are in principle doing. The conclusions made by international specialists will satisfy us," he said.
The Boeing 777-200 of the Malaysia Airlines (MH17) en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed on July 17 in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Region, some 60km (over 37 miles) from the Russian border, in the zone of combat operations between the Donetsk self-defense forces and the Ukrainian army. All the passengers and crewmembers onboard the aircraft, 298 people, died.
The passengers of the ill-fated aircraft were citizens of Malaysia, the Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, Canada and New Zealand.
The death toll from the Ukrainian conflict has reached 3,543 people, including the MH17 flight victims, according to latest UN figures.
Hundreds of thousands have fled Ukraine's war-torn south-east as a result of clashes between government troops and local militias in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions during Kiev's military operation to regain control over the breakaway territories.
[Source: Itar Tass, Donetsk, 02Oct14]
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