Human rights advocate detained by militants: OSCE betrayed us

Russian human rights advocate, journalist and photographer Victoria Ivleva has been a volunteer in the conflict zone in east Ukraine for several months. Ivleva reports a troubling incident that took place last week on Russia-backed militant territory in the Donbas. She blames OSCE staff directly for cooperating with Russia-backed militants. On March 17 Novaya Gazeta reported that a bus transporting civilians out of militant held territory had been detained at a checkpoint outside a village in Luhansk. Human rights advocate Victoria Ivleva was accompanying the refugees out of the war zone into Ukrainian held territory. Today InfoResist.org reports more details of this story. Victoria Ivleva appeared on "Shuster Live" and openly blamed OSCE staff for cooperating with Russia-backed militants in Ukraine's Donbas. The militants robbed her of personal possessions. And she was prevented from evacuating the refugees who wanted to leave territory controlled by Russia's proxy forces.  Although she was released after several hours, the passenger bus was turned back.

"The OSCE betrayed us. I have to speak openly about this. OSCE staff had the lists of people to be evacuated. The lists were given to them by the ATO command so that OSCE staff could provide assistance. They somehow passed the list to the opposing side. I don’t know why they did this or for what sinister motives, or the details of how this actually occurred,” she stated.

Ivleva emphasized that now the lists of those wishing to leave the territory of the so-called "Luhansk People's Republic" (LNR) are in the hands of the militants.

“Lists of people, their phone numbers, our personal data, my personal data, personal data of two volunteers from Kharkiv are in the hands of the opposing side. Thank God I passed through the checkpoint. I think my passport saved me. If it had been the volunteer from Kharkiv that had to go through [the checkpoint], I think we wouldn’t be hearing from him for a long time,” she emphasized.

Journalist, human rights advocate and photographer Victoria Ivleva was detained for several hours on March 17 on territory controlled by militants of the LNR. The incident occurred at the checkpoint in the village of Luhansk Station. The militants seized Ivleva’s money, notebooks, phones, and camera. The bus carrying 45 women, children, elderly and disabled evacuees heading to Ukrainian territory which Ivleva had been accompanying was tragically turned back and not allowed to leave militant territory.