AFP/Kiev
Amnesty International has charged that Kiev’s forces fighting in eastern Ukraine may be guilty of extrajudicial killings, as well as the pro-Russian rebels.
The rights group found evidence of deliberate killings “attributable to both sides, but not on the scale reported by Russian media and authorities”, the rights group said in a report.
In particular, Amnesty looked into reports of mass graves uncovered in late September that Russia’s foreign ministry said had over 400 corpses.
Amnesty said the location – a mine near the village of Nyzhnya Krynka east of the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk – contained several graves but that the number of dead was vastly exaggerated by Moscow.
“The delegation found strong evidence implicating Kiev-controlled forces in the extrajudicial executions of four men” in the area, it said.
The exhumation of one local resident confirmed that his hands had been taped behind his back when he died, the Amnesty report said.
Amnesty described him as a victim of extrajudicial execution and concluded that Kiev-controlled forces stationed in the area were implicated.
The 21-year-old was a volunteer for the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and his family said that he manned a checkpoint but never actively participated in fighting, said Amnesty’s Ukraine director Tetyana Mazur.
Kiev has previously dismissed reports of executions by Ukrainian forces near Nyzhnya Krynka as a provocation.
“There is no doubt that summary killings and atrocities are being committed by both pro-Russian separatists and pro-Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine but it is difficult to get an accurate sense of the scale of these abuses,” Amnesty said.
Pro-Russian separatists who launched their uprising against Kiev in April have been accused of torturing and killing Ukrainian sympathisers and a local lawmaker.
A total of more than 3,700 people have been killed in the conflict, including more than 300 soldiers and civilians since September 5 when Kiev and the separatists agreed on a ceasefire.
Pro-Russian separatist fighters stand guard yesterday at a checkpoint near the airport of Donetsk. Amnesty International has said that Kiev’s forces i
