»Die ukrainischen Behörden dürfen die Gesetzlosigkeit der Seperatisten nicht erwidern«

It’s not Europe. It’s a bit different... There is a war here. The law has changed, procedures have been simplified... If I choose to, I can have you arrested right now, put a bag over your head and lock you up in a cellar for 30 days on suspicion of aiding separatists.

--Aidar battalion commander to Amnesty International researcher

Members of the Aidar territorial defence battalion, operating in the north Luhansk region, have been involved in widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions.

The Aidar battalion is one of over thirty so-called volunteer battalions to have emerged in the wake of the conflict, which have been loosely integrated into Ukrainian security structures as they seek to retake separatist held areas.

In the course of a two-week research mission to the region, an Amnesty International researcher interviewed dozens of victims and witnesses of the abuses, as well as local officials, army commanders and police officers in the area and representatives of the Aidar battalion.Our findings indicate that, while formally operating under the command of the Ukrainian security forces combined headquarters in the region members of the Aidar battalion act with virtually no oversight or control, and local police are either unwilling or unable to address the abuses.

Some of the abuses committed by members of the Aidar battalion amount to war crimes, for which both the perpetrators and, possibly, the commanders would bear responsibility under national and international law.

Part of the region where the Aidar battalion currently operates – such as the conurbation of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and Rubizhne and the town of Shchastya – was under the control of the separatist forces of the so-called Lugansk People’s Republic (LNR) from mid-May to late July. During this time, separatist forces are reported to have committed a wide range of abuses against civilians, including abduction, theft and murder. Amnesty International has documented such abuses by separatist armed groups in other regions.

The Aidar battalion played a significant role in the Ukrainian advances in July, most prominently in the recapture of the town of Shchastya, 24 kilometers north of Luhansk city. It has lost many of its combatants in the fighting. Up to several dozen were killed in an ambush south of Shchastya after the announcement of the ceasefire on 6 September, 2014.

While hailed by many nationally as a committed fighting force, the Aidar battalion has acquired locally a reputation for brutal reprisals, robbery, beatings and extortion.

Amnesty International is calling on the Ukrainian authorities to bring Aidar and other volunteer battalions under effective lines of command and control, promptly investigate all allegations of abuses, and hold those responsible to account.

The Ukrainian authorities cannot afford to replicate in the areas they retake, the lawlessness and abuses that have prevailed in separatist-held areas. The failure to eliminate abuses and possible war crimes by volunteer battalions risks significantly aggravating tensions in the east of the country and undermining the proclaimed intentions of the new Ukrainian authorities to strengthen and uphold the rule of law more broadly.

Den vollständigen Bericht finden Sie hier (pdf).