Some 5,000 people killed, over 10,000 injured in Donbas conflict - Russian investigators
MOSCOW. Dec 11 (Interfax) - As many as 5,000 people have been killed and another 10,000 have been injured since fighting began in southeastern Ukraine in April, head of the Russian Investigative Committee's Directorate Alexander Drymanov has said.
"The information available to us and the data confirmed by the United Nations indicate that 5,000 people have been killed in this armed conflict and more than 10,000 have sustained injuries," he said at a session of the Russian Federation Council's Committee for Public Support of the Donbas Population on Thursday.
The Russian Investigative Committee has opened over 30 criminal cases into the possible use of prohibited methods of warfare, genocide and the murders of civilians, including Russian citizens, Drymanov said.
"I can give you some surnames [suspects in these cases]. They are [Dnipropetrovsk Governor and businessman] Ihor Kolomoisky, Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov, former Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey, former chief of the Armed Forces General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, and the commanders of army units," Drymanov said.
Several Russian citizens are also being prosecuted for "recruiting mercenaries on the territory of Russia and fighting on the side of nationalist battalions in Ukraine," he said.
"More than 82,000 witnesses have already been interviewed as part of these criminal cases. Persons who have suffered physical harm, as well as material or moral damage - approximately 17,000 people - have been recognized as aggrieved parties," he said.
Most of these people have filed lawsuits with the European Court of Human Rights, he said.
