UN experts have warned of the "alarming" recruitment of prisoners from Russian jails by the Wagner Group, an organization of mercenaries affiliated with the Kremlin, through tactics that violate human rights and endanger individual liberties.
"We are deeply concerned by reports of visits by members of the so-called Wagner Group to penal institutions in various regions of Russia, offering pardons for criminal sentences to prisoners who join the Group and participate in the war in Ukraine, in addition to making payments monthly payments to their families," the experts explained in a statement.
The group allegedly recruited both Russian citizens and foreigners serving sentences in Russia, and used pressure techniques to do so, through threats and intimidation, for example by preventing prisoners from speaking with their families and lawyers.
"We have information that various recruits have been executed for trying to escape and, in other cases, have been seriously injured as a warning to other prisoners," the experts explained. "These tactics constitute violations of Human Rights and could be war crimes."
They have also reported that the recruited prisoners were allegedly transferred to a center in Rostov, a Russian region very close to the Ukrainian border, to be trained before being transferred to the front. In addition, they would have introduced them into Ukraine without having their identification documents and having signed a "contract" with the group.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
