A Russian-installed court in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region has jailed an official from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring mission for “espionage”.
The Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic sentenced Vadym Golda to 14 years in a penal colony on charges of gathering intelligence on industrial sites that was used to direct missile strikes in the region, said Russia’s prosecutor general on Friday, posting on Telegram.
Russian prosecutors said the strikes that Golda had allegedly facilitated through “reconnaissance activities” caused damage amounting to almost 100 million roubles ($1.1m).
The Vienna-based OSCE condemned the verdict as a “grave violation of participating States’ commitments under international law”, calling for the immediate release of the 56-year-old and two other jailed officials from the organisation.
Golda, Maxim Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov have been in detention in Russian-controlled Ukraine since 2022, the latter two sentenced to 13 years in prison for alleged treason after closed-door trials in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic.
OSCE Chair @MinisterIanBorg and OSCE Secretary General @HelgaSchmid_SG unequivocally condemn today’s “sentencing” of OSCE official Vadym Golda, call for the immediate release of all three detained OSCE officials, include Maxim Petrov and Dmytro Shabanovhttps://t.co/kMOH9oHpb4
— OSCE (@OSCE) July 12, 2024
“I will not relent in my efforts and do everything possible to bring Vadym, Maxim and Dmytro back home to their families and loved ones,” said OSCE Secretary-General Helga Maria Schmid in a statement.
“Individuals working under an international mandate, such as OSCE officials, should never face arrest, harassment or detention for fulfilling their responsibilities,” she said.
The OSCE, a 57-nation intergovernmental organisation that includes Russia and Ukraine among its members, deployed a monitoring mission to eastern Ukraine from 2014 until 2022, its extension blocked by Moscow shortly after its full-scale invasion of the country.
The unarmed civilian mission was tasked with observing and reporting on the security situation and facilitating dialogue between parties in the conflict.
Calls for hospital attack prosecution
The OSCE has issued several reports on possible crimes linked to the conflict and alleged crimes against humanity that Russian armed forces are accused of committing in Ukraine.
On Friday, Ukraine’s top prosecutor, Andriy Kostin, called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute Russia over a missile strike on Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv earlier this week that killed two hospital workers.
Russia denies attacking the hospital, but a United Nations rights mission said there was a “high likelihood” the hospital took a direct hit from a Russian missile.
The ICC has issued six arrest warrants for alleged Russian crimes in Ukraine including one against President Vladimir Putin.
