DPR, LPR refute media reports on secret prisons in self-proclaimed republics
MOSCOW. July 21 (Interfax) - The self-proclaimed republics in Donbas denied the presence of so-called secret prisons on their territory.
Self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) human rights ombudsperson Darya Morozova told Interfax she was personally controlling conditions of imprisonment in the republic.
"We have no hidden prisons. I am controlling treatment of prisoners, I am personally monitoring conditions of their custody and their state," she said on Thursday.
In turn, self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) negotiator in the Contact Group Vladislav Deinego called absurd the allegations about secret prisons in the republic.
"This is totally absurd. Our security services are obviously engaged in procedural activity, including the one aimed to expose subversive actions and sabotage, but this work is legal and transparent. Any hidden prisons are out of the question," he told Interfax on Thursday.
Human rights activists, who have prepared a survey on secret prisons in the self-proclaimed republics, should legalize their activity by means of accreditation before doing any research, Deinego said.
"Organizations of the kind need relevant accreditation for operating legally in territory of the republic; without receiving this accreditation they find themselves outside the legal field and their whole activity here is unlawful. Hence, the conclusions they draw cannot be taken seriously," he said.
A number of media outlets said with the reference to a survey of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that secret prisons had been deployed in Kyiv-controlled territory of Ukraine and the self-proclaimed republics in Donbas.
