The issue of forcibly displaced persons became urgent in the Republic again, in the light of the new round of economic and transport blockade. Today, on March 20, FDPs from Nikolayev, Zaporozhye and Mariupol spoke about political persecutions and difficult social and economic situation on the territory of Ukraine during the briefing with participation of the DPR Human Rights Ombudsman Daria Morozova, said the correspondent of the DPR official website.
“In August 2014, I was arrested by the SSU for communicating with friends from Donetsk via Skype. Some “well-wisher” recorded our conversation and passed it to the SSU. As a result, I was accused of creating a terrorist organization and even … preparing assassination against the governor. I should say that I was engaged in sports shooting at that time. Naturally, I had a registered weapon, which was later seized by the security agencies. After the detention I was constantly tortured, then I was released under house arrest, and they immediately detained me again and handed over to the military of “Donbass” battalion, who kept me on the territory of the Tereshkov Pioneer camp. I was released from confinement as part of the exchange of prisoners in November 2014,” – said Vladimir Slisarenko, FDP from Nikolaev.
Moreover, the former political prisoner says, the Ukrainian security services still have not returned some of his documents and illegally arrested all his property in Nikolayev. It is worth noting that the ECHR judged the actions of the military as a violation of human rights and took legal action on these facts.
“In such situations, we appeal to international organizations, which start to work on the issue through dialogue with the SSU. This usually helps, but there are still about 130 persons who have not received their documents back at present. And there is no legal method to solve this issue for the time being, since criminal cases have been brought to the majority of the detainees,” – explained the DPR Ombudsman Daria Morozova.
The former resident Mariupol Olga Seletskaya, who was persecuted by Ukrainian security services, has also told her story of the in the press conference. “For several years I have worked at the plant in Mariupol, and the events of Maidan affected all of us. At the end of 2013, there was a sharp decline in production, and there was a threat of a huge staff reduction. I headed the working committee of two enterprises – “Azovmash” and “Azovelektrostal”, we started to put forward our demands. Subsequently, I became one of the commandants of the tent camp near the city administration, later I was noticed by the SSU. Activists started going missing. Their bodies were later found with signs of torture. After the referendum in Mariupol, the situation went terrible, many were forced to leave. At the end of 2014, I was arrested by Ukrainian security services and stayed in captivity for 120 days, where I was tortured and abused, subjected to simulated shooting, and my son was taken by them. Only after 2 years I managed to return the child, now we live in temporary accommodation in Donetsk,” she said.
In conclusion, the Ombudsman of the Republic Daria Morozova cited statistics on FDPs who currently reside in the DPR: “Since the beginning of the military conflict, 7994 individuals, including 2,106 underage children, were registered as forcibly displaced persons in Donbass. 68 temporary accommodation centers (TACs) were opened on the territory of the Republic. 57 of them operate, 11 remain in reserve. There are 3016 persons living in these TACs, including 621 underage children. 4978 persons live in the housing stock of the DPR, including 1485 children under 18”.
