Just three days after Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Lazarenko was taken prisoner in the war in Ukraine’s east, a peace agreement was signed under which the sides agreed to an “all-for-all” prisoner exchange. A year and a half later, his wife still waits desperately for his return.
The so-called Minsk Agreement on ending the war between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces is floundering on many issues, but prisoner releases appear to be one of the most intractable.
Amnesty International and Human Rights watch allege that both sides have arbitrarily detained civilians, sometimes holding them incommunicado for months in prisons that authorities don’t acknowledge …read more
Source: Voice of America
