LUGANSK, April 3 (Lugansk Media Centre) - The Ukrainian People’s Tribunal for investigating the Poroshenko regime’s war crimes against Ukrainian citizens (UPT) accepted for review the photo evidence of atrocities committed by Ukrainian gunmen against Donbass civilians. The evidence was provided by Lugansk resident Sergey Kopach at the UPT’s Tuesday hearing.
“I had been gathering these photos for a long time. They show burnt and maimed bodies of residents of Lugansk and neighbourhoods. The perpetrators are largely Aidar gunmen. Some of the bodies that can bee seen on the photos were people I knew. Their photos were sent by their relatives,” Kopach told the Donetsk News Agency. According to the Tribunal’s materials, he is both a witness and a victim.
He noted that nationalistic squad gunmen practiced the destruction of bodies of the civilians they had killed, especially if the bodies had gunshot wounds or signs of battery.
“I saw a young man beaten up and then shot and killed in a wooded area; then they decided to burn the body. I was lucky to escape the same fate,” Kopach said. “It was easier for them to dispose of the bodies than give explanations to doctors who recorded bodily harm.”
Alexander Kopach was detained by Ukrainian forces in Starobelsk, Lugansk Region, on July 29, 2015. He was a civilian having nothing to do with the militia which had been set up by residents of the region to fight off the Poroshenko regime’s gunmen. He spent more than a year in custody surviving tortures and beatings.
“After interrogations, I had a dislocated shoulder, slash wounds on arms and multiple bruises and abrasions. I spent two months in hospital after I was released from captivity,” Kopach added.
The evidence supplied to the UPT by Kopach is available to the Donetsk News Agency yet it will not be published because of its shocking content.
At the Tuesday hearing, the UPT heard charges of tortures, lootings and robberies.
In the course of the Monday session which addressed the setting up of illegal paramilitary formations by the Kiev regime, the UPT heard the testimonies of eight victims and two witnesses. Six of the victims are Lugansk region residents, UPT judge Lyubov Batyashova said.
On March 26 and 27, the Ukrainian People’s Tribunal reviewed charges of the use of armed forces against civilians. Earlier, it had brought charges against eight Poroshenko regime officials including the Ukrainian president.
On March 15, the Initiative Group of Ukrainian citizens living in Donetsk and Lugansk announced the establishment of the People’s Tribunal for the crimes committed in Donbass by the Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko’s regime.
The UPT began to investigate the Poroshenko regime crimes on March 20. The first hearing was held in Donetsk on March 26-27. The Tribunal will operate in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation and norms of international law. Presiding judge Elena Shishkina, judges Lyubov Batyashova and Tatyana Kravchenko, prosecutor Sergey Kozhemyakin, lawyer for the defence Elena Gridina and a panel of 12 jurors (six of them are Lugansk region natives) take part in UPT sessions.
The UPT will review the crimes committed by Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, National Security and Defence Council Secretary Alexander Turchinov, Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman, Chief of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak, parliament speaker Andrey Parubiy and former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and other high-ranking officials.
Applications to participate in the UPT, questions and proposals can be forwarded to the Tribunal’s website.
