Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, NGO “Truth Hounds” and Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group have documented cases of detention of 23 persons based on 20 interviews with victims and witnesses of events, as well as photos and supporting documents.

The testimonies of victims, collected by the authors during monitoring visits, lead to the conclusion that in 2014 and 2015 the practice of detaining local inhabitants of Donetsk and Lugansk regions under the general suspicion of “separatism” was widespread. Such acts were conducted with the violation of Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Abduction and keeping of the arrested persons in secrecy without any means of communication with the outside world allows qualifying such acts as enforced disappearances. Detainees were subjected to torture, particularly during interrogations. The actions described in the report violate the national legislation, international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Being committed to the principles of peace, security and justice, the authors believe that it is necessary to conduct a full and thorough investigation of the acts, described in this report and bring the perpetrators to justice in order to ensure proper respect for fundamental human rights.