«Christmas wish – freedom». A campaign supporting civilians unlawfully held by Russia has been initiated.

A campaign supporting civilians illegally detained by the Russian Federation has been launched by the Center for Civil Liberties in collaboration with the Assisto project, which supports victims of war crimes.

Christmas is the perfect time to remind people of the importance of compassion and assistance to those in need. Therefore, from December 22 to 24, individuals and organizations will share stories and portraits of those detained under the hashtag #FreeUkrainians. The goal is to raise awareness not only among Ukrainian society but also among international partners and non-governmental organizations about the issue of the illegal detention of Ukrainian civilians by Russia. The campaign aims to call for effective mechanisms to bring our people back.

Center for Civil Liberties and Assisto invite everyone to join the campaign and publish posts on their personal social media accounts. Texts for various platforms like X (Twitter), Instagram and Facebook can be found here, and images for social media are available for download here. Additionally, printable posters can be found here. Participants are encouraged to print and display posters in various locations to increase visibility.

Cases of civilians have been curated by the Center for Civil Liberties and presented in the Prisoners’ Voice project – each case has received written consent from the detainees’ families for disclosure.