According to Geneva Convention, Russia is at war with Ukraine; Ukrainian female POW in Moscow prison
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/01/22/russia-jails-the-proof-it-is-at-war-column/22183051/
Russia currently detains 31 Ukrainian servicemembers in the same Moscow prison where the government jailed members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot, according to Moscow lawyer Mark Feygin. He represents Nadiya Savchenko, who was captured in eastern Ukraine last summer.
Iraq War veteran
Savchenko served in Iraq as part of the international coalition, and later became the first female pilot in the Ukrainian armed forces. She was on a rescue mission near Luhansk when her party was ambushed by pro-Russian separatists June 18. Two days later, she was handed over to Russian intelligence officers inside Ukraine, who transferred her across the border with a sack over her head.
Moscow disputes this version of events, initially claiming that Savchenko voluntarily crossed the Ukrainian-Russian border to ask for asylum.
However, a YouTube video came to light showing Savchenko, in uniform, being interrogated by her captors inside Ukraine while handcuffed to a pipe. It was not exactly the image of someone fleeing persecution.
Details such as Savchenko being in uniform have critical legal gravity. Under the Geneva Conventions, POWs are defined as "members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power." The convention applies to any case of armed conflict between two signatory states "even if the state of war is not recognized by one of them." Thus, the fact of Savchenko being taken prisoner on active duty and winding up in a Russian jail establishes Moscow as being a party to the war, regardless of what Putin says.
Shifty story
Russia has denied Savchenko, now more than 40 days into a hunger strike, and the other detainees POW status because it would fatally compromise Putin's official story. Instead, the Kremlin has concocted a variety of criminal charges.
Savchenko's legal status underwent a bizarre evolution, from being an asylum seeker, to being questioned as a witness in a criminal case against Ukrainian officials, to "accidental detention" at a Russian hotel as a suspect. She was finally charged with directing mortar fire that resulted in the deaths of two Russian journalists, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, who were reporting on the fighting from inside Ukraine.
There are gaping holes in Russia's case, such as why Moscow has jurisdiction over an event in Ukraine, or what crime is committed when combat journalists are tragically caught in the crossfire of battle, or why Savchenko, a serving member of the armed forces, was culpable even if she were directing mortar fire.
Telephone records show the journalists were still alive even after Savchenko was in custody. Perhaps this will force her legal status to "evolve" once again.
Read more at
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/01/22/russia-jails-the-proof-it-is-at-war-column/22183051/
The Orwellian mindset of Putin's Russia knows no end. The POW was an asylum-seeker? But now is accused of doing something that happened after she was put in prison. God, only in Russia.
= new reply since forum marked as read
- What the fuck is that??????
