On Friday, 19 October, Human Rights Ombudsman in the Donetsk People’s Republic claimed that DPR authorities are ready to hand over Kiev representatives almost 20 prisoners convicted of criminal offences prior to the conflict in Donbass, who are being held in penitentiary institutions of the Republic.
“For the time being, 20 convicts are ready for the transfer. Both people and their criminal cases are ready. Now we are preparing the next group for the transfer, about 45 people… They all are residents of several Ukrainian oblasts and had been sentenced before the conflict,” she said.
Morozova added that the DPR is willing to hand over the convicts any time, but Kiev representatives are blocking the issue at the meetings of the Humanitarian Subgroup in Minsk negotiations on peaceful settlement in Donbass.
“There are no obstacles for the transfer of these people. Ms Denisova (Ombudsman in Kiev) and I only need to agree on a date and come to the line of contact to hand over the convicts and their criminal cases,” she explained.
In June, Ms Morozova claimed that after the appointment of Ms Denisova, the transfer of people convicted of criminal offences to penitentiary institutions of Ukraine stopped. Before, DPR have been transferring prisoners convicted under criminal offences before the conflict to the territory controlled by Kiev on a regular basis. The transfers were carried out only provided that the prisoners expressed a desire to continue serving their prison sentence in the territory controlled by Kiev.
