Russian court hears case of Ukrainian war captive denied POW status in Russia
A Russian military court considered the case of the 20-year-old Ukrainian citizen Nikita Shkryabin, imprisoned in Ukraine by the Russian military.
Pavel Chikov, head of the legal advocacy organization Agora, writes that the court has ruled that Skhryabin has no procedural rights in Russia and isn’t entitled to an attorney.
Nikita Shkryabin is a third-year student at the Kharkiv National Law University. His mother says that he wasn’t involved in any combat operations in Ukraine. The student was captured by the Russian military on March 29, 2022. He is now held at an undisclosed location in Russia, and is formally in the Russian Defense Ministry custody.
Shkryabin was arrested on the pretext of “resisting the special military operation,” as stated by the Defense Ministry in a note issued to his Russian attorney, Leonid Solovyov, who received it in September. The ministry refuses to recognize Shkryabin as a prisoner of war.
Solovyov has appealed to the Investigative Committee, alleging that his client is being illegally imprisoned. The military investigators, however, declined to conduct an inquiry. After Solovyov filed a complaint, the Garrison Military Court deemed the investigators’ inaction lawful.
Summarizing the proceedings, Pavel Chikov writes:
The court has ascertained that Shkryabin was detained for unlawful actions. At the same time, he is not a criminal defender or subject to prosecution. Therefore, he has no procedural rights, including a right to an attorney.
Chikov points out that, based on different estimates, “several thousand captive Ukrainian citizens” are now believed to be imprisoned in Russia. Many of them cannot be located:
The Russian Defense Ministry replies queries from attorneys by confirming the fact of the person’s detention. It will also report on the state of their health — but information about their exact location and access to the detainees are denied.
Follow Meduza in English on Twitter to stay up to date.