Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk will deliver concise messages from the relatives of military captives and unlawfully detained civilians from Crimea and other regions of Ukraine to the Pope.
According to Ukrinform, the Ukrainian human rights activist, head of the Center for Civil Liberties, and Nobel laureate announced this on Facebook.
"In a few days, I will have a meeting with the Pope in the Vatican. I am going there at the invitation of the papal throne. Previously, we handed him letters on various occasions, requesting his assistance in the release of our captives. We formalized them as official appeals, collective petitions with the signatures of relatives, open letters," Matviichuk said.
She emphasized that the Vatican sent a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine and Russia, "so the top priority of this mission should be the return of all Ukrainian military captives and unlawfully detained civilians."
Matviichuk stressed that Russia must be demanded to comply with all norms of the Geneva Conventions, "so that they do not torture them, provide medical assistance, ensure proper detention conditions, and so on. According to the testimonies of people released from Russian captivity, all of this sounds like something from outer space."
"I want to deliver concise messages from the relatives of military captives and unlawfully detained civilians from Crimea and other regions of Ukraine to the Pope. So, those who want to join and write to him, please fill out this Google form. We will translate everything into his native Spanish and deliver it," Matviichuk noted.
She provided a link to fill out the Google form.
"Just in case, so that no one misunderstands, we are not compiling lists for release. These lists fall within the competence of state authorities, as well as the conduct of official negotiations with Russia. We want to humanize these figures and provide dry biographical data to the Pope," Matviichuk explained.