KYIV: Kyiv said on Thursday that Russian forces had shot dead five Ukrainian servicemen who had surrendered in the eastern Zaporizhzhia region, marking the latest war crimes allegations levied against Moscow.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other’s armies of committing atrocities since Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Prosecutors said the incident had taken place on November 24 near the village of Novodarivka in the Pologiv district of the Zaporizhzhia region.
“Servicemen of the Russian armed forces shot dead five Ukrainian defenders out of six who had been taken prisoner,” a statement read.
There was no immediate response to the accusations from Moscow, which claimed to have annexed Zaporizhzhia along with three other partially occupied Ukrainian territories in late 2022.
Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he had contacted the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) over the allegations.
Kyiv earlier this month accused Russian forces of killing five other surrendered soldiers, this time in the eastern Donetsk region, which Moscow also claims.
The UN has documented “numerous violations of international humanitarian law against prisoners of war, including cases of summary execution of both Russian and Ukrainian POWs,” a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office told AFP last year.
Kyiv says Russian forces shot dead five captured soldiers
https://arab.news/ch9qg
Kyiv says Russian forces shot dead five captured soldiers
- Prosecutors said the incident had taken place on November 24 near the village of Novodarivka
- There was no immediate response to the accusations from Moscow
Slovak parliament passes law to abolish whistleblower protection office
- The new law abolishes the office in charge of protecting whistleblowers and creates another body
- Fico has faced a series of protests over his curbing of rights in the country
BRATISLAVA: Slovakia’s parliament on Tuesday approved a law that critics say will curb protections for whistleblowers, the latest move drawing rule-of-law concerns since nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico’s return to power in 2023.
It comes after parliament last year adopted controversial penal code reforms, including easing the penalties for corruption and economic offenses in the European Union and NATO member.
Since his return to power, Fico has faced a series of protests over his curbing of rights in the country of 5.4 million people.
Parliament passed the new law, which abolishes the office in charge of protecting whistleblowers and creates another body that will be placed under government authority, with 78 votes in favor and 57 against.
The law, which foresees that the government will nominate the chair of the new body, will take effect from January 1, 2026.
Parliament will be tasked with electing the chair.
The law states that “protections granted so far may be retroactively withdrawn... from whistleblowers,” adding that protections may also “be permanently re?evaluated, including at the initiative of the employer.”
Jan Horecky, a lawmaker from the Christian Democratic KDH party, denounced the abolition of the “last... independent institution dedicated to fighting corruption” in the country.
In recent weeks, Slovak NGOs have protested against the government plans to abolish the office, with a few hundred people rallying in front of the parliament building after lawmakers passed the law in the first reading.
The opposition SaS party has called a new protest for Thursday.
Transparency International Slovakia in late November accused Fico of “dismantling even the little he himself offered in the fight against corruption,” while the NGO Stop Corruption said whistleblower protection risks being turned into “a scrap of paper that will protect no one.”
Slovakia’s rank in Transparency International’s annual corruption perceptions index dropped several places last year, with the country ranking among the most corrupt in the EU last year.
Critics say about 100 people who have blown the whistle on corruption stand to lose protection.
Fico has drawn a series of protests, including over tightening his grip on public broadcaster RTVS and media outlets he deems “hostile” and replacing leading figures in the country’s cultural institutions.
Brussels launched legal action against Slovakia over changes to the country’s constitution that see national law take precedence over EU law.
