Oleh Baturin released from captivity
On 20 March 2022, human rights defender and journalist Oleh Baturin was released from captivity in Kherson, a Russia-occupied territory. For eight days, the human rights defender and journalist has been held incommunicado, while Russian military refused to inform his family about his whereabouts. While he was in captivity, the Russian military exposed him to interrogations, as well as physical and psychological violence. Before the release, on 20 March 2022, Oleh Baturin was forced to sign a document in which he agrees to cooperate with the Russian authorities. Human rights defender and his family fled the Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine.
On 12 March 2022, Ukrainian human rights organizations reported that human rights defender and journalist Oleh Baturin has disappeared in Kakhovka, Kherson region. The colleagues of the human rights defender have legitimate reason to believe that the Russian military is responsible for his disappearance. Front Line Defenders believes that Oleh’s disappearance may be linked to his reporting on human rights violations, committed by the Russian military throughout their invasion of Ukraine.
Oleh Baturin is a Ukrainian journalist and human rights defender from Kakhovka, Kherson region. He is the editor-in-chief of the "Novy Den" ("New Day") media outlet. Since 2014, Oleh Baturin has extensively covered human rights violations in the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia and the unrecognized People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia’s full scale military invasion and war on Ukraine, the human rights defender has documented human rights violations being carried out by the Russian military.
On 20 March 2022, human rights defender and journalist Oleh Baturin was released from captivity in Kherson, a Russia-occupied territory. For eight days, the human rights defender and journalist has been held incommunicado, while Russian military refused to inform his family about his whereabouts. While he was in captivity, the Russian military exposed him to interrogations, as well as physical and psychological violence. Before the release, on 20 March 2022, Oleh Baturin was forced to sign a document in which he agrees to cooperate with the Russian authorities. Human rights defender and his family fled the Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine.
Oleh Baturin is a Ukrainian journalist and human rights defender from Kakhovka, Kherson region. He is the editor-in-chief of the "Novy Den" ("New Day") media outlet. Since 2014, Oleh Baturin has extensively covered human rights violations in the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia and the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine occupied by Russia. Since the beginning of Russia’s full scale military invasion, the human rights defender has documented human rights violations being carried out by the Russian military.
On 20 March 2022, human rights defender and journalist Oleh Baturin was released from captivity in Kherson. After the abduction, the human rights defender was transferred from the City Council of Nova Kakhovka to Kherson, where he was held in one of the pre-trial detention centers. While he was in cativity, Oleh Baturin was subjected to interrogations, as well as physical and psychological violence by the Russian military. He was repeatedly beaten up in Nova Kakhovka, and in Kherson he was forced to listen to captive prisoners of war and civilian hostages being tortured by the Russian military.
For eight days, he has been held incommunicado while the Russian military refused to inform his family about his whereabouts. Before the release, on 20 March, Oleh Baturin was forced to sign a document where he agrees to cooperate with the Russian authorities. The Russian officials also collected his DNA samples. The perpetrator then drove Oleh Baturin to a petrol station near Kakhovka and dropped him there. Oleh Baturin and his family fled the Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine.
On 12 March 2022, Oleh Baturin's colleagues reported that he was scheduled to have a meeting with a human rights defender and journalist from Nova Kakhovka, Serhii Tsyhipa, at a bus stop near his home in Kakhovka. Oleh Baturin left his apartment, stating that he would be back in 20 minutes, but he never returned and has been missing since. Local social media-based information confirmed that the Russian military was spotted at the same bus stop, as the nearby city, Nova Kakhovka, was occupied by the Russian army as an attempt to establish a military government in the area. Novy Den's webpage has remained inaccessible for days. Earlier this month, on 1 March 2022, Oleh Baturin announced on his Facebook page that Russian forces had interfered with the access to Novy Den. Local media reported that Russian military captured Serhii Tsyhipa couple of days before, and forced him to arrange a meeting with Oleh Baturin. Serhii Tsyhipa remains in captivity, and he was allegedly transferred to Russia-occupied Crimea.
On 12 March 2022, Ukrainian human rights organizations reported that human rights defender and journalist Oleh Baturin has disappeared in Kakhovka, Kherson region. The colleagues of the human rights defender have legitimate reason to believe that the Russian military is responsible for his disappearance. Front Line Defenders believes that Oleh’s disappearance may be linked to his reporting on human rights violations, committed by the Russian military throughout their invasion of Ukraine.
Oleh Baturin is a Ukrainian journalist and human rights defender from Kakhovka, Kherson region. He is the editor-in-chief of the "Novy Den" ("New Day") media outlet. Since 2014, Oleh Baturin has extensively covered human rights violations in the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia and the unrecognized People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia’s full scale military invasion and war on Ukraine, the human rights defender has documented human rights violations being carried out by the Russian military.
On 12 March 2022, Oleh Baturin's colleagues reported that he was scheduled to have a meeting with an acquaintance at a bus stop near his home in Kakhovka. The human rights defender's relative confirmed that he left their apartment, stating that he would be back in 20 minutes, yet he never returned and has been missing since. Local social media-based chats confirmed that the Russian military was spotted at the same bus stop, as the nearby city, Nova Kakhovka, is occupied by the Russian army, which is attempting to establish a military government in the area. Novy Den's webpage has remained inaccessible for days. Earlier this month, on 1 March 2022, Oleh Baturin announced on his Facebook page that Russian forces had interfered with the access to the website of his media outlet, Novy Den. The Institute of Mass Information in Ukraine also reported that journalists in the Kherson region have been receiving calls with threats from unknown individuals who appear to be members of the Russian military.
Front Line Defenders expresses grave concerns about the disappearance of human rights defender and journalist Oleh Baturin and calls upon the Russian military to disclose if Oleh Baturin is in their custody. If this is confirmed, Front Line Defenders calls for the human rights defender's immediate release.
Front Line Defenders condemns Russia's invasion of Ukraine and calls upon the international community to recognise the critical role being played by human rights defenders in documenting human rights violations and supporting their communities and to ensure that the necessary support is provided to ensure their protection.
