On 31 January at 13:00 a roundtable entitled “How to free the prisoners of Kremlin? International expertise and conclusions for Ukraine” will take place at the Ukrinform news agency (8/16 Bogdan Khmelnytskyi St.)

A joint human rights report of the Media Initiative for Human Rights and Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union “Prisoners of war. International expertise on securing the release of war prisoners, hostages and political prisoners: conclusions for Ukraine” will be presented at the event, as well as recommendations based on the report. Representatives of state authorities, civil society and international organizations, families of people held for political reasons, prisoners of war and hostages, as well as those already released are welcome to attend the roundtable.

The event will include a discussion of the tools used during other armed conflicts for securing the release of war prisoners and hostages, or, in the case of other countries – political prisoners, as well as of the prospects of using these tools in Ukraine both at the levels of state and civil society.

The event will be attended by Paata Zakareishvili, public figure and politician, former Minister of Georgia on the Issues of Reintegration, who for 25 years has been involved in humanitarian efforts during armed conflicts in Caucasus, actively working to secure the release of prisoners and hostages as well assisting with the search for people gone missing in the region of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Georgia (South Ossetia and Abkhazia).

Participants:

• Yuliya Kazdobina – advisor to the Minister of Information Policy of Ukraine;
• Paata Zakareishvili – public figure and politician from Georgia, has been handling negotiations on securing the release of prisoners and hostages taken during armed conflicts in Caucasus for 25 years;
• Maria Tomak – coordinator, Media Initiative for Human Rights;
• Nadiya Volkova – Chief of Party of USAID Human Rights in Action Program, Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.

photo «Copyright © 2017 RFE/RL, Inc. Передруковується з дозволу Радіо Вільна Європа / Радіо Свобода»