Latest news with #CenterforCivilLiberties
Time of India
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Trump nominated for 2026 Nobel Peace Prize by Pakistan: Last 10 winners every student must know about
Pakistan nominates Donald Trump for 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. In a move that is bound to generate global debate, Pakistan has officially nominated the U.S. President Donald Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize . The nomination cites his 'decisive diplomatic intervention' during the May 2025 India–Pakistan military standoff—a crisis that brought both countries to the brink of conflict before a sudden de-escalation. While some may see this as a bold recognition of diplomacy, others could argue it's a controversial move given Trump's polarizing global reputation. Regardless of where one stands, the nomination has renewed public interest in one of the world's most prestigious honors—the Nobel Peace Prize. For students navigating a world full of crises, activism, and digital noise, it's worth asking: What does it really take to win a Peace Prize? The answer lies in looking back at the past ten years. From survivors to presidents, from journalists to civil society groups, these recipients remind us that peace comes in many forms—and that meaningful impact doesn't always come from the spotlight. Nihon Hidankyo (2024) In 2024, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japan-based confederation of atomic bomb survivors. For decades, they have advocated for the global elimination of nuclear weapons. Many members are survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and have spent their lives sharing painful personal testimonies in hopes of preventing future nuclear warfare. Their recognition highlighted the power of memory and moral witness, especially in an age where military tensions continue to rise. Narges Mohammadi (2023) Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian journalist and human rights activist, received the award in 2023. Known for her defiance in the face of imprisonment and censorship, Mohammadi has been a leading voice in Iran's fight for women's rights, democracy, and civil liberties. Her activism became globally visible during the 2022 protests following the death of Mahsa Amini. Despite being incarcerated, she continued to write and advocate, becoming a symbol of hope and resistance for student and youth-led movements across the world. Ales Bialiatski, Memorial, and the Center for Civil Liberties (2022) In 2022, the prize was jointly awarded to Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organization Memorial, and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties. Bialiatski, a Belarusian activist, has been imprisoned for documenting state abuses. Memorial, once Russia's leading memory and human rights archive, was shut down by Russian authorities for exposing historical and modern-day repression. The Ukrainian organization, meanwhile, gained global attention for its role in documenting war crimes during the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Together, these three laureates represented civil society's strength in resisting authoritarianism. Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov (2021) The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize recognized Maria Ressa from the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov from Russia for their fearless defense of press freedom. Ressa, co-founder of the digital news outlet Rappler, has faced repeated arrests for her investigative reporting on disinformation and authoritarian practices under the Duterte regime. Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, leads one of Russia's last independent newspapers and has seen colleagues assassinated for their work. Their win underscored the critical role of journalism in protecting democracy. World Food Programme (2020) In 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize went to the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations agency that works to combat global hunger. With operations in dozens of conflict zones, WFP has long been at the forefront of delivering life-saving food aid to vulnerable populations. The committee praised its efforts to prevent hunger from being used as a weapon of war and its work in building the foundations for peace by stabilizing food security in crisis-affected areas. Abiy Ahmed (2019) Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the prize in 2019 for his role in ending a 20-year conflict with neighboring Eritrea. The peace deal, signed soon after he came to power, was celebrated internationally as a historic achievement. However, his tenure would later become more controversial due to internal conflicts, especially in the Tigray region, where human rights abuses have been reported. Still, his initial efforts at diplomacy earned him global recognition for peacemaking. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad (2018) In 2018, the prize went to Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad for their work addressing sexual violence in armed conflict. Mukwege has spent his life treating survivors of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo, running a hospital where thousands of women have found medical and emotional care. Murad, a survivor of ISIS captivity, became a global advocate after escaping and speaking out about the atrocities committed against Yazidi women. Their win emphasized that peace also means justice and healing for survivors. International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (2017) The 2017 laureate, ICAN, played a pivotal role in the adoption of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. As a coalition of NGOs, the campaign mobilized grassroots support and pressured global leaders to recognize the humanitarian consequences of nuclear arms. ICAN's success showed how organized civil activism, including that led by students and young people, could shape international treaties and policy. Juan Manuel Santos (2016) Juan Manuel Santos, then-president of Colombia, was honored in 2016 for his efforts to end the country's decades-long civil war with the FARC guerrillas. His peace agreement—though narrowly rejected in a public referendum—was ultimately revised and implemented. Santos took political risks to push reconciliation forward, believing that no peace is perfect but that peace is always preferable to continued war. His leadership demonstrated the complexities and patience required for lasting peace. National Dialogue Quartet (2015) In 2015, the award went to Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet, a coalition of four civil society organizations that helped steer the country through the political crisis following the Arab Spring. When Tunisia's fragile democratic transition nearly collapsed, this quartet stepped in to mediate between opposing factions, preventing violence and ensuring that the constitution-building process stayed on track. Their example highlighted the quiet but crucial role of civil dialogue in preserving democratic gains.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Girl, 18, forced to sing Russian anthem under scorching sun: how Ukrainian teenagers become Russia's hostages
Russian security forces at the border forced an 18-year-old Ukrainian girl, taken to Russia against her will by her parents, to memorise and sing the Russian national anthem under the scorching sun. Source: Olena Rozvadovska, co-founder of the charitable foundation Voices of Children, during the advocacy event People First, organised by the Center for Civil Liberties Quote from Rozvadovska: "There is a girl – let's call her Ivanka. She has recently turned 18. She was 15 when the full-scale invasion began. She was born and raised in a city that is now occupied. Her parents have sided with Russia." Despite her parents' support for the Russian invaders, Ivanka remained determined to stay in Ukraine. They forcibly took her to Russia, promising a 'heavenly life' with the chance to attend school and later university in Moscow or St Petersburg." Details: Ivanka (name changed for security reasons) has persistently sought ways to get back to Ukraine, keeping in touch with her Ukrainian classmates and her teacher. The girl refused to obtain a Russian passport, even though her parents insisted. A big fight broke out at home. She ultimately ran away and travelled all the way from Russia to Ukraine on her own. "The worst thing she describes is the experience of being interrogated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) while crossing the border," Rozvadovska says. "When we meet with such children in Kyiv, they say this is the most traumatic thing." Ivanka was questioned by FSB officers wearing balaclavas. After they searched her phone and found a message reading "Glory to Ukraine", the interrogation intensified. "They forced her to sing the Russian anthem, but she didn't know the words. They made her memorise it under the scorching sun, not even allowing her to stand in the shade. She was exhausted and terrified," Rozvadovska explained. Eventually, Ivanka managed to sing the anthem. One of the FSB officers sang along but made several mistakes – neither he nor the girl knew the lyrics properly, highlighting the absurdity of the situation. Ivanka now lives in Kyiv. But according to Rozvadovska, her case is one of the "softest" the Voices of Children foundation has encountered. "Many children who came back from Russia report physical violence, psychological pressure, and manipulation. They were told things like, 'Nobody is waiting for you in Ukraine'," she said. Many return in a severe psychological state, struggling with anxiety, fear and difficulty trusting others. Some have been receiving psychological rehabilitation for over a year. "When we celebrate the return of one, two, ten children – it's actually just the beginning of a new chapter for them," Rozvadovska added. Hundreds of children have been brought back, either independently, with volunteers, or through initiatives like Bring Kids Back. However, the number is still only a fraction of the whole. "Many of these children were taken when they were infants or toddlers. They are growing up under systematic manipulation and propaganda. In Russian schools, they are completely cut off from Ukrainian identity. They are not allowed to contact Ukraine. They are being brainwashed," she explained. Human rights activist Oleksandra Matviichuk, Head of the Center for Civil Liberties and a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, noted that while Ukrainian authorities report the illegal deportation of about 19,000 children, the real number could be much higher. The People First campaign was launched to keep the issue of child deportations and other Russian war crimes against Ukrainians in the global political spotlight. Read also: Deportation as a weapon: the tragic fate of children from the Oleshky boarding school Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Chicago Tribune
06-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are still held by Russia with uncertain hope of release
When she heard her front door open almost two years ago, Kostiantyn Zinovkin's mother thought her son had returned home because he forgot something. Instead, men in balaclavas burst into the apartment in Melitopol, a southern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian forces. They said Zinovkin was detained for a minor infraction and would be released soon. They used his key to enter, said his wife, Liusiena, and searched the flat so thoroughly that they tore it apart 'into molecules.' But Zinovkin wasn't released. Weeks after his May 2023 arrest, the Russians told his mother he was plotting a terrorist attack. He's now standing trial on charges his family calls absurd. Zinovkin is one of thousands of civilians in Russian captivity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists their release, along with prisoners of war, will be an important step toward ending the 3-year-old war. So far, it hasn't appeared high on the agenda in U.S. talks with Moscow and Kyiv. 'While politicians discuss natural resources, possible territorial concessions, geopolitical interests and even Zelenskyy's suit in the Oval Office, they're not talking about people,' said Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. Thousands held In January, the center and other Ukrainian and Russian rights groups launched 'People First,' a campaign that says any peace settlement must prioritize the release of everyone they say are captives, including Russians jailed for protesting the war, as well as Ukrainian children who were illegally deported. 'You can't achieve sustainable peace without taking into account the human dimension,' Matviichuk told The Associated Press. It's unknown how many Ukrainian civilians are in custody, both in occupied regions and in Russia. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets has estimated over 20,000. Matviichuk says her group received over 4,000 requests to help civilian detainees. She notes it's against international law to detain noncombatants in war. Oleg Orlov, co-founder of the Russian rights group Memorial, says advocates know at least 1,672 Ukrainian civilians are in Moscow's custody. 'There's a larger number of them that we don't know about,' added Orlov, whose organization won the Nobel alongside Matviichuk's group and is involved in People First. Detained without charges Many are detained for months without charges and don't know why they're being held, Orlov said. Russian soldiers detained Mykyta Shkriabin, then 19, in Ukraine's Kharkiv region in March 2022. He left the basement where his family was sheltering from fighting to get supplies and never returned. Shkriabin was detained even though he wasn't charged with a crime, said his lawyer, Leonid Solovyov. In 2023, the authorities began referring to him as a prisoner of war, a status Solovyov seeks to contest since the student wasn't a combatant. Shkriabin's mother, Tetiana, told AP last month she still doesn't know where her son is held. In three years, she's received two letters from him saying he's doing well and that she shouldn't worry. She's hoping for 'a prisoner exchange, a repatriation, or something,' Shkriabina said. Without hope, 'how does one hang in there?' Terrorism, treason and espionage Others face charges that their relatives say are fabricated. After being seized in Melitopol, Zinovkin was jailed for over two years and charged with seven offenses, including plotting a terrorist attack, assembling weapons and high treason, his wife Liusiena Zinovkina told AP, describing the charges as 'absurd.' While vocally pro-Ukrainian and against Russia's occupation, her husband couldn't plot to bomb anyone and had no weapons skills, she said. Especially nonsensical is the treason charge, she said, because Russian law stipulates that only its citizens can be charged with that crime, and Zinovkin has never held Russian citizenship, unless it was forced upon him in jail. A conviction could bring life in prison. Ukrainian civilian Serhii Tsyhipa, 63, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security prison after he disappeared in March 2022 while walking his dog in Nova Kakhovka in the partially occupied Kherson region, said his wife, Olena. The dog also vanished. Tsyhipa, a journalist, was wearing a jacket with a large red cross sewn on it. Both he and his wife, Olena, had those jackets, she told AP, because they volunteered to distribute food and other essentials when Russian troops invaded. Serhii Tsyhipa protested the occupation, and Olena believes that led to his arrest. He was held for months in Crimea and finally charged with espionage in December 2022. Almost a year later, in October 2023, Tsyhipa was convicted and sentenced in a trial that lasted only three hearings. He appealed, but his sentence was upheld. 'But the Russian authorities must understand that we are fighting — that we are doing everything possible to bring him home,' she said. Mykhailo Savva of the Expert Council of the Center for Civil Liberties said rights advocates know of 307 Ukrainian civilians convicted in Russia on criminal charges — usually espionage or treason, if the person held a Russian passport, but also terrorism and extremism. He said that in Ukraine's occupied territories, Russians see activists, community leaders and journalists as 'the greatest threat.' Winning release for those already serving sentences would be an uphill battle, advocates say. Held in harsh conditions Relatives must piece together scraps of information about prison conditions. Zinovkina said she has received letters from her husband who told her of problems with his sight, teeth and back. Former prisoners also told her of cramped, cold basement cells in a jail in Rostov, where he's being held. She believes her husband was pressured to sign a confession. A man who met him in jail told her Kostiantyn 'confessed to everything they wanted him to, so the worst is over' for him. Orlov said Ukrainian POWs and civilians are known to be held in harsh conditions, where allegations of abuse and torture are common. A recent report by the U.N. Human Rights Council's commission of inquiry on Ukraine said Russia 'committed enforced disappearances and torture as crimes against humanity,' part of a 'systematic attack against the civilian population and pursuant to a coordinated state policy.' It said Russia 'detained large numbers of civilians,' jailed them in occupied Ukraine or deported them to Russia, and 'systematically used torture against certain categories of detainees to extract information, coerce, and intimidate.' The Kremlin tested those methods during the two wars it waged in Chechnya in the 1990s and 2000s, well before invading Ukraine, said Orlov, who recently went to Ukraine to document Russia's human rights violations and saw the pattern repeated from the North Caucasus conflicts. 'Essentially, a misanthropic system has been created, and everyone who falls into it ends up in hell,' added Matviichuk, the Ukrainian human rights advocate. Russia's Defense Ministry, the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Federal Security Service did not respond to requests for comment. Tempering hope with patience As the U.S. talks about a ceasefire, relatives continue to press for the captives' release. Liusiena Zinovkina says she hasn't abandoned hope as her husband, now 35, stands trial but is tempering her expectations. 'I see that it's not as simple as the American president thought. It's not that easy to come to an agreement with Russia,' she said, reminding herself 'to be patient. It will happen, but not tomorrow.' Olena Tsyhipa said every minute counts for her husband, whose health has deteriorated. 'My belief in his return is unwavering,' she said. 'We just have to wait.'
Washington Post
06-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are still held by Russia with uncertain hope of release
When she heard her front door open almost two years ago, Kostiantyn Zinovkin's mother thought her son had returned home because he forgot something. Instead, men in balaclavas burst into the apartment in Melitopol, a southern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian forces . They said Zinovkin was detained for a minor infraction and would be released soon. They used his key to enter, said his wife, Liusiena, and searched the flat so thoroughly that they tore it apart 'into molecules.' But Zinovkin wasn't released. Weeks after his May 2023 arrest, the Russians told his mother he was plotting a terrorist attack. He's now standing trial on charges his family calls absurd. Zinovkin is one of thousands of civilians in Russian captivity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insists their release, along with prisoners of war, will be an important step toward ending the 3-year-old war. So far, it hasn't appeared high on the agenda in U.S. talks with Moscow and Kyiv. 'While politicians discuss natural resources, possible territorial concessions, geopolitical interests and even Zelenskyy's suit in the Oval Office, they're not talking about people,' said Oleksandra Matviichuk , head of the Center for Civil Liberties, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. In January, the center and other Ukrainian and Russian rights groups launched 'People First,' a campaign that says any peace settlement must prioritize the release of everyone they say are captives, including Russians jailed for protesting the war, as well as Ukrainian children who were illegally deported . 'You can't achieve sustainable peace without taking into account the human dimension,' Matviichuk told The Associated Press. It's unknown how many Ukrainian civilians are in custody, both in occupied regions and in Russia. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets has estimated over 20,000. Matviichuk says her group received over 4,000 requests to help civilian detainees. She notes it's against international law to detain noncombatants in war. Oleg Orlov , co-founder of the Russian rights group Memorial , says advocates know at least 1,672 Ukrainian civilians are in Moscow's custody. 'There's a larger number of them that we don't know about,' added Orlov, whose organization won the Nobel alongside Matviichuk's group and is involved in People First. Many are detained for months without charges and don't know why they're being held, Orlov said. Russian soldiers detained Mykyta Shkriabin, then 19, in Ukraine's Kharkiv region in March 2022. He left the basement where his family was sheltering from fighting to get supplies and never returned. Shkriabin was detained even though he wasn't charged with a crime, said his lawyer, Leonid Solovyov. In 2023, the authorities began referring to him as a POW, a status Solovyov seeks to contest since the student wasn't a combatant. Shkriabin's mother, Tetiana, told AP last month she still doesn't know where her son is held. In three years, she's received two letters from him saying he's doing well and that she shouldn't worry. She's hoping for 'a prisoner exchange, a repatriation, or something,' Shkriabina said. Without hope, 'how does one hang in there?' Others face charges that their relatives say are fabricated. After being seized in Melitopol, Zinovkin was jailed for over two years and charged with seven offenses, including plotting a terrorist attack, assembling weapons and high treason, his wife Liusiena Zinovkina told AP, describing the charges as 'absurd.' While vocally pro-Ukrainian and against Russia's occupation, her husband couldn't plot to bomb anyone and had no weapons skills, she said. Especially nonsensical is the treason charge, she said, because Russian law stipulates that only its citizens can be charged with that crime, and Zinovkin has never held Russian citizenship, unless it was forced upon him in jail. A conviction could bring life in prison. Ukrainian civilian Serhii Tsyhipa, 63, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security prison after he disappeared in March 2022 while walking his dog in Nova Kakhovka, in the partially occupied Kherson region, said his wife, Olena. The dog also vanished. Tsyhipa, a journalist, was wearing a jacket with a large red cross sewn on it. Both he and his wife, Olena, had those jackets, she told AP, because they volunteered to distribute food and other essentials when Russian troops invaded. Serhii Tsyhipa protested the occupation, and Olena believes that led to his arrest. He was held for months in Crimea and finally charged with espionage in December 2022. Almost a year later, in October 2023, Tsyhipa was convicted and sentenced in a trial that lasted only three hearings. He appealed, but his sentence was upheld. 'But the Russian authorities must understand that we are fighting — that we are doing everything possible to bring him home,' she said. Mykhailo Savva of the Expert Council of the Center for Civil Liberties said rights advocates know of 307 Ukrainian civilians convicted in Russia on criminal charges — usually espionage or treason, if the person held a Russian passport, but also terrorism and extremism. He said that in Ukraine's occupied territories, Russians see activists, community leaders and journalists as 'the greatest threat.' Winning release for those already serving sentences would be an uphill battle, advocates say. Relatives must piece together scraps of information about prison conditions. Zinovkina said she has received letters from her husband who told her of problems with his sight, teeth and back. Former prisoners also told her of cramped, cold basement cells in a jail in Rostov, where he's being held. She believes her husband was pressured to sign a confession. A man who met him in jail told her Kostiantyn 'confessed to everything they wanted him to, so the worst is over' for him. Orlov said Ukrainian POWs and civilians are known to be held in harsh conditions, where allegations of abuse and torture are common. The Kremlin tested those methods during the two wars it waged in Chechnya in the 1990s and 2000s, well before invading Ukraine, said Orlov, who recently went to Ukraine to document Russia's human rights violations and saw the pattern repeated from the North Caucasus conflicts. 'Essentially, a misanthropic system has been created, and everyone who falls into it ends up in hell,' added Matviichuk, the Ukrainian human rights worker. A recent report by the U.N. Human Rights Council said Russia 'committed enforced disappearances and torture as crimes against humanity,' part of a 'systematic attack against the civilian population and pursuant to a coordinated state policy.' It said Russia 'detained large numbers of civilians,' jailed them in occupied Ukraine or deported them to Russia, and 'systematically used torture against certain categories of detainees to extract information, coerce, and intimidate.' Russia's Defense Ministry, the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Federal Security Service did not respond to requests for comment. As the U.S. talks about a ceasefire, relatives continue to press for the captives' release. Liusiena Zinovkina says she hasn't abandoned hope as her husband, now 35, stands trial but is tempering her expectations. 'I see that it's not as simple as the American president thought. It's not that easy to come to an agreement with Russia,' she said, reminding herself 'to be patient. It will happen, but not tomorrow.' Olena Tsyhipa said every minute counts for her husband, whose health has deteriorated. 'My belief in his return is unwavering,' she said. 'We just have to wait.' ___ Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn contributed.
Arab News
06-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are still held by Russia with uncertain hope of release
When she heard her front door open almost two years ago, Kostiantyn Zinovkin's mother thought her son had returned home because he forgot something. Instead, men in balaclavas burst into the apartment in Melitopol, a southern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian forces. They said Zinovkin was detained for a minor infraction and would be released soon. They used his key to enter, said his wife, Liusiena, and searched the flat so thoroughly that they tore it apart 'into molecules.' But Zinovkin wasn't released. Weeks after his May 2023 arrest, the Russians told his mother he was plotting a terrorist attack. He's now standing trial on charges his family calls absurd. Zinovkin is one of thousands of civilians in Russian captivity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists their release, along with prisoners of war, will be an important step toward ending the 3-year-old war. So far, it hasn't appeared high on the agenda in US talks with Moscow and Kyiv. 'While politicians discuss natural resources, possible territorial concessions, geopolitical interests and even Zelensky's suit in the Oval Office, they're not talking about people,' said Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. Thousands held In January, the center and other Ukrainian and Russian rights groups launched 'People First,' a campaign that says any peace settlement must prioritize the release of everyone they say are captives, including Russians jailed for protesting the war, as well as Ukrainian children who were illegally deported. 'You can't achieve sustainable peace without taking into account the human dimension,' Matviichuk told The Associated Press. It's unknown how many Ukrainian civilians are in custody, both in occupied regions and in Russia. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets has estimated over 20,000. Matviichuk says her group received over 4,000 requests to help civilian detainees. She notes it's against international law to detain noncombatants in war. Oleg Orlov, co-founder of the Russian rights group Memorial, says advocates know at least 1,672 Ukrainian civilians are in Moscow's custody. 'There's a larger number of them that we don't know about,' added Orlov, whose organization won the Nobel alongside Matviichuk's group and is involved in People First. Detained without charges Many are detained for months without charges and don't know why they're being held, Orlov said. Russian soldiers detained Mykyta Shkriabin, then 19, in Ukraine's Kharkiv region in March 2022. He left the basement where his family was sheltering from fighting to get supplies and never returned. Shkriabin was detained even though he wasn't charged with a crime, said his lawyer, Leonid Solovyov. In 2023, the authorities began referring to him as a POW, a status Solovyov seeks to contest since the student wasn't a combatant. Shkriabin's mother, Tetiana, told AP last month she still doesn't know where her son is held. In three years, she's received two letters from him saying he's doing well and that she shouldn't worry. She's hoping for 'a prisoner exchange, a repatriation, or something,' Shkriabina said. Without hope, 'how does one hang in there?' Terrorism, treason and espionage Others face charges that their relatives say are fabricated. After being seized in Melitopol, Zinovkin was jailed for over two years and charged with seven offenses, including plotting a terrorist attack, assembling weapons and high treason, his wife Liusiena Zinovkina told AP, describing the charges as 'absurd.' While vocally pro-Ukrainian and against Russia's occupation, her husband couldn't plot to bomb anyone and had no weapons skills, she said. Especially nonsensical is the treason charge, she said, because Russian law stipulates that only its citizens can be charged with that crime, and Zinovkin has never held Russian citizenship, unless it was forced upon him in jail. A conviction could bring life in prison. Ukrainian civilian Serhii Tsyhipa, 63, was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security prison after he disappeared in March 2022 while walking his dog in Nova Kakhovka, in the partially occupied Kherson region, said his wife, Olena. The dog also vanished. Tsyhipa, a journalist, was wearing a jacket with a large red cross sewn on it. Both he and his wife, Olena, had those jackets, she told AP, because they volunteered to distribute food and other essentials when Russian troops invaded. Serhii Tsyhipa protested the occupation, and Olena believes that led to his arrest. He was held for months in Crimea and finally charged with espionage in December 2022. Almost a year later, in October 2023, Tsyhipa was convicted and sentenced in a trial that lasted only three hearings. He appealed, but his sentence was upheld. 'But the Russian authorities must understand that we are fighting — that we are doing everything possible to bring him home,' she said. Mykhailo Savva of the Expert Council of the Center for Civil Liberties said rights advocates know of 307 Ukrainian civilians convicted in Russia on criminal charges — usually espionage or treason, if the person held a Russian passport, but also terrorism and extremism. He said that in Ukraine's occupied territories, Russians see activists, community leaders and journalists as 'the greatest threat.' Winning release for those already serving sentences would be an uphill battle, advocates say. Held in harsh conditions Relatives must piece together scraps of information about prison conditions. Zinovkina said she has received letters from her husband who told her of problems with his sight, teeth and back. Former prisoners also told her of cramped, cold basement cells in a jail in Rostov, where he's being held. She believes her husband was pressured to sign a confession. A man who met him in jail told her Kostiantyn 'confessed to everything they wanted him to, so the worst is over' for him. Orlov said Ukrainian POWs and civilians are known to be held in harsh conditions, where allegations of abuse and torture are common. The Kremlin tested those methods during the two wars it waged in Chechnya in the 1990s and 2000s, well before invading Ukraine, said Orlov, who recently went to Ukraine to document Russia's human rights violations and saw the pattern repeated from the North Caucasus conflicts. 'Essentially, a misanthropic system has been created, and everyone who falls into it ends up in hell,' added Matviichuk, the Ukrainian human rights worker. A recent report by the UN Human Rights Council said Russia 'committed enforced disappearances and torture as crimes against humanity,' part of a 'systematic attack against the civilian population and pursuant to a coordinated state policy.' It said Russia 'detained large numbers of civilians,' jailed them in occupied Ukraine or deported them to Russia, and 'systematically used torture against certain categories of detainees to extract information, coerce, and intimidate.' Russia's Defense Ministry, the Federal Penitentiary Service and the Federal Security Service did not respond to requests for comment. Tempering hope with patience As the US talks about a ceasefire, relatives continue to press for the captives' release. Liusiena Zinovkina says she hasn't abandoned hope as her husband, now 35, stands trial but is tempering her expectations. 'I see that it's not as simple as the American president thought. It's not that easy to come to an agreement with Russia,' she said, reminding herself 'to be patient. It will happen, but not tomorrow.' Olena Tsyhipa said every minute counts for her husband, whose health has deteriorated. 'My belief in his return is unwavering,' she said. 'We just have to wait.'
