April 9, 2015 (BBC News Europe) Amnesty
International has said it has evidence pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine
summarily killed four Ukrainian soldiers in their captivity. Witnesses told the
group that one government soldier was shot at point-blank range by a separatist
commander. Amnesty also said it had videos of three others shown alive in
captivity, then dead in a morgue with bullet wounds to their heads and upper
bodies. A fragile ceasefire has been in force in eastern Ukraine since
February. The killings are tantamount to war crimes, Amnesty said.
"These claims must be promptly,
thoroughly and impartially investigated, and the perpetrators prosecuted in
fair trials by recognized authorities," said Denis Krivosheev, Europe and
Central Asia Deputy Director at the organization. The allegations come after
one separatist commander told the Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Post he personally
killed 15 soldiers captured from the Ukrainian armed forces. An adviser to the
rebels told the BBC last year they had carried out executions in one
separatist-held area "to prevent chaos".
Rights groups have accused both
sides in the conflict of abuses. Some 6,000 people have been killed since
fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and the
Ukrainian government a year ago.
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