On Wednesday 23 October, representatives of the main political groups in the European Parliament - with the exception of The Left, which did not take part in the debate - called for an end to Russia's impunity for “killing” Ukrainian prisoners of war.
According to the United Nations, 177 prisoners of war have been killed by the Russian army since February 2022.
During the debate, MEPs condemned the murders - including by decapitation or burning alive - ill-treatment, rape, starvation, etc. faced by Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian prisons.
“We know who the perpetrators are, who their commanders are, who the regime’s propagandists are, who glorify and promote these atrocities. They must all be brought to justice”, stressed Sandra Kalniete (EPP, Latvia).
According to Chloé Ridel (S&D, French), the repeated deaths of prisoners of war are simply a “manifestation of Russia’s long-standing and repeated contempt for international law, and in particular the 1949 Geneva Convention”. “Russia must be held accountable before the International Criminal Court, and we call for the establishment of an ad hoc international tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russian crimes of aggression against Ukraine and to put an end to impunity”, she added.
Petras Auštrevičius (Renew Europe, Lithuanian) believes that each murder of a prisoner of war should be the subject of a separate procedure against the Russian Federation: “Anyone who ordered or carried out such a crime must be punished”. He called for increased pressure on Russia through sanctions and political and legal measures to isolate it.
“Not taking action means sidestepping the situation. We must help prisoners to stay alive by using all the means at our disposal and all our networks”, explained Sergey Lagodinsky (Greens/EFA, German).
Several MEPs felt that Europeans had the means to put an end to the situation by giving more military aid to Ukraine. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)