“Release unconditionally and without exchanges”. At Docudays UA, Oleksandra Matviichuk called for signing a petition to secure the right to correspondence for the Ukrainians who ended up in captivity in the Russian Federation

On 31 May, the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA started in Kyiv. The Head of the Center for Civil Liberties delivered a welcoming speech to the audience in the packed Zhovten Cinema hall, highlighting the theme of the opening film Peaceful People by Oksana Karpovych – the life of civilians during the war – and emphasising the important challenges to human rights protection.

In contrast to the film’s director, Oleksandra Matviichuk spoke about civilian Ukrainians held in captivity. Oleksandra reminded the audience that Russia was ignoring all the requirements of international law and the decisions of international organizations prescribing that no country may take civilians as prisoners, as even in times of war they are protected by the Geneva Conventions.

In support of the rights of civilians, Docudays and the Center for Civil Liberties staged an action of solidarity with the prisoners right in the cinema hall, addressing the world with the demands “Release unconditionally and without exchanges” and “We are waiting for you at home”.

“Russia has seized Ukrainian civilians and holds them in captivity in various places in the occupied territories and various regions of the Russian Federation. Russia gives no information of their whereabouts and because of this many Ukrainian families do not know where their loved ones stay. This inflicts additional suffering and great pain on them,” Oleksandra emphasized in her address.

As part of the preparation for the meeting of the Ukrainian human rights defenders with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Oleksandra Matviichuk also asked the audience to sign a petition to guarantee the right to correspondence for the Ukrainians who ended up in captivity due to the Russian aggression.

The Docudays UA International Human Rights Film Festival has been held in Kyiv for the 21st time, each year bringing together international films that highlight the lives of people from all over the planet. This year the event is held under the slogan “Ten years of a three-day war lasting three centuries”, and accordingly, its program features several films about the Ukrainian reality since 2014, as well as stories of people whose lives the war has changed and explicit footage from Southern and Eastern Ukraine.