Human rights defender and soldier Butkevych speaks about health and conditions in Russian captivity

Maksym Butkevych, Ukrainian human rights defender, former BBC journalist and soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has spoken about his health and the conditions of captivity in Russia.

Source: Butkevych in an interview with Hromadske Radio

Quote: "Thank God, my health is okay. Of course, none of those who were in captivity have perfect health. But everything is fine. There are things that need a bit of fixing, which I’m currently dealing with and will continue to. But nothing that would hinder a quick recovery. I hope everything will be alright. In fact, I was much luckier with my health than I feared initially."

Details: Butkevych also shared that on the second day after his capture, while being transported to temporarily occupied Luhansk, he sustained a hand injury from being hit with a wooden stick. As a result, his hand temporarily lost mobility, but the injury eventually healed, and no fracture was found. He is currently undergoing medical check-ups to determine if there are any lasting effects from the injury.

In addition, Butkevych spoke about his time held in the former penal colony No. 19 in Luhansk, where all "convicted" prisoners of war are held. 

He noted that conditions in the colony were more livable compared to his previous time in pre-trial detention, when he still had the status of a prisoner of war.

He also mentioned that captives were forced to work. According to Butkevych, the tasks for prisoners of war mostly involved maintaining the living area, such as cleaning, carrying loads, painting curbs and repairs.

Quote: "When my brothers-in-arms and I were brought there more than a year ago, we were unofficially informed that work was mandatory. Not the so-called 'work obligations' where a convict is required to work if demanded by the administration for two hours a week, but rather ongoing work that, of course, wasn’t officially documented. We were told that refusal to work would result in sanctions," Butkevych explained.

For reference: Butkevych was captured by Russian forces in the summer of 2022 while fighting in Ukraine’s east as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The "court" of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic sentenced the human rights defender to 13 years in prison in March 2023. No information about Butkevych's whereabouts had been known to his lawyer or his parents since late August 2023. Later, it became known that he was in a colony in Krasnyi Luch in the Russian-occupied territory of Luhansk Oblast.

Background:

• On the evening of 18 October, it was reported that Maksym Butkevych had been released from Russian captivity. 
• Later, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War later reported that it had carried out the 58th prisoner swap with Russia and 95 more Ukrainian defenders had come back home.

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