War Crimes!!!

 

 

Violation of the Geneva Conventions 

Separatists made Ukrainian POWs to parade in Donersk

Several dozen people have gathered by the reinforced checkpoint at the entrance to the rebel-occupied special services (SBU) building here. It is 6 p.m, but the August heat is still stifling. The people, most of them women, wait in silence, their eyes downcast. They are waiting for The List.

"Is this the place where they read the list of captives?" I whisper to three women huddled on a small bench, a few steps away from numerous camouflage-clad guards with Kalashnikov assault rifles. "Have they taken someone from you too?" one of the women, Anna, whispers back.

 

When I explain that I am here to document illegal detentions, hostage-taking, and other abuses, two of the women jump up and walk away, merging with the crowd, but Anna stays put. "Yes, every night, between 6 and 7, an SBU representative comes out and reads the updated list of those who they're holding. They took my husband away last night. If he's being held here his name should be on the list. If not I'll just keep looking. They have such prisons in several other places around town. Also, they take some of the captives outside Donetsk."

 

Anna sighs, staring into space. In a soft monotone, she describes how she got home and found her husband missing and her apartment torn apart. Her neighbors told her that a group of armed men acting on behalf of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) forced their way in, carried out a "search," took the family computer as well as some valuables, told her husband he was being "arrested," and drove off with him.

 

She thinks it is because he expressed some pro-Ukrainian views on social media. But she is even more frightened they might accuse him of being an informer for the Ukrainian army because he "often rode his bicycle to work and they just have this thing about bicycles and there are some unfriendly neighbors who could have reported him to the DNR, simply out of spite…."

 

It's 6:30 p.m. already. A DNR representative in rumpled fatigues approaches the gate from inside the yard, and people flatten themselves against the gate and one another, straining to get closer. He unfolds a two-page document, clears his throat and starts reading out names, stumbling over syllables. I count 55 names. "That's it," he says. For another few seconds, the crowd is silent, and then the silence is broken by a piercing scream, "I know my son is here! Why is his name not on the list? Why are you holding him? He's just 18! What did he do?"

 Half-burned list of individuals targeted for arrest in the DNR.

 

More questions are fired at the list-reader, who just shrugs and says his job is to read the list, not to provide explanations. He asks the relatives of those on the list, Anna among them, to stay for a few minutes and the rest to go home without making a fuss. He even sounds sympathetic, referring to the "severity of war time," reassuring the crowd that those on the list are treated well and suggesting that those who aren't on the list will be found sooner or later.

 

Some of the relatives who have learned from the list that their loved ones are in detention get no further information except, "If he was detained there must be a reason." Others learn that their family members were taken away for political reasons. Many learn that their relatives were rounded up simply for violating the curfew — being spotted outside between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. — or walking around drunk. Their punishment is digging trenches at the front line or filling up sandbags at checkpoints for 10 days or several weeks, turning them into forced laborers. Anyone who's been through insurgent checkpoints around Donetsk has seen them.

 

When Anna finally walks away from the gate, her face is impassive, her eyes are staring blankly. She says the DNR representative did not have any specific information for her: merely that he husband is "under arrest" and they're "working on it." She adds, "I'll try to pass on a food parcel and some clothing to him tomorrow. They're saying it's not allowed but I've seen some people do it."

 

Sounds of shelling rumble from the outskirts of the city. She nods goodbye, and in the fading evening light her face reminds me of the two nurses I interviewed in a maternity ward several hours earlier. They had been caught in a shelling attack, apparently by Ukrainian forces, earlier this month and could not take shelter because they had to care for three premature newborns hooked up to IVs and oxygen. Their story is in no way similar to Anna's, but the terror in their eyes is the same. 

The Falklands War - March into Stanley

With the hills around Port Stanley all in British hands, the Argentine troops were crammed into the narrow streets of Port Stanley. Many of the Argentine conscripts, who had retreated cold and hungry from the hardships of their time on the hills, saw for the first time the warehouses stuffed with food which had never got through to them. The Argentine troops also held the airport.

The British troops now steeled themselves for the final battle, to push the enemy into the sea and take Port Stanley. It would be hard and costly fighting in the streets of Port Stanley. Civilians were bound to get hurt, but too much had been lost and the end of the whole campaign was now in sight. In the streets of Stanley, the Argentine soldiers steeled themselves for the final battle. They were ordered to prepare for combat at close quarters.

Wireless ridge

Above the town, 2 Para were observing the movements in Stanley from their position on Wireless Ridge. They were keen to press on and be first into Port Stanley. Before they were allowed to move in, Brigadier Julian Thomspon, commanding 3 Commando Brigade, insisted on coming forward by helicopter and seeing the position for himself. On his arrival, he gave Lieutenant-Colonel David Chaundler the green light. The order to advance was given at 1300 hours and B Company moved off Wireless Ridge and down through Moody Brook and up to the higher ground on the other ridge of the valley. The Blues and Royals' moved along the ridge to give covering fire if needed and A Company, followed by D and C Companies, moved into Port Stanley.

The Argentines saw the Paras advancing but their response was confused. Some wanted to retreat, some wanted to fight. In many cases the decision to retreat was left in the hands of individual officers in each company.

2 Para marching

When A Company, of 2 Para, approached the Stanley Racecourse, off came their helmets and on went their berets. The armoured vehicles of the Blues and Royals moved off Wireless Ridge and ferried Paras along the road. Robin Innes-Ker produced the Regimental Colours and attached them to the radio antenna of his Scorpion. As the troops prepared to enter Port Stanley, the order was given for them not to pass the racecourse. The Argentines had intimated that they were prepared to surrender. A four-day long psy-ops campaign by Colonel Mike Rose of the SAS and Cpatain Rod Bell, a Spanish-speaking officer of the Royal Marines, had culminated in a journey into Port Stanley by helicopter to meet General Menendez and his staff.

2 Para

While these talks went on all units were ordered to halt where they were. The men of 2 Para clattered into the grandstand at the racecourse and waited there. The shelling, which had preceded the surrender, had taken its toll on Port Stanley. The racecourse had been reduced to a quagmire, the towns filtration plant was out of action, and only a few days water was left. 4.5-inch shells from the Royal Navy's warships had whistled over the town to pound the Argentine lines, and sadly had killed three civilians on 11th June, when their shells struck houses west of the War Memorial that British Intelligence had reported as unoccupied.

General J. J. Moore flew in and the final talk began at 2300 hours on 14th June, 1982, where General Moore and General Menendez met outside the conference room. They saluted each other and said that each side had fought well. General Moore said they should get on with things and produced the surrender documents.

Genral Menendez struck 'unconditional' out of the documents. He had been promised that the surrender would be with 'dignity and honour' in the psy-ops broadcasts. Menendez also secured the prompt evacuation of his troops as one of the conditions, but the British did not allow him to insert the words 'Islas Malvinas' after 'Falklands'. At 2359 the document was formally signed and witnessed by Colonel Pennicott. General Menendez asked if he might join his men on the airfield where they were to be grouped prior to repatriation. When this was refused, tears formed in his eyes. He was evacuated to HMS Fearless the following morning.

 A Para watches over Argentine prisoners

The Argentine troops were gathered under the supervision of British officers and troops and removed all their weapons and warlike equipment before gathering on Port Stanley Airfield to await evacuation. Under British direction, the Argentine troops helped to clean up Stanley and the environment as well as construct rudimentary shelters on Port Stanley Airfield. The offices of the Red Cross helped to secure a quick repatriation to Argentina. Some Argentines, brought around from San Carlos by the Uganda, were found to have secreted pistols, bayonets and enough parts for a complete machine gun, when stripped and searched.

 POWs

The repatriation of the Argentine troops was carried out by Canberra, Andromeda and Norland and the Red Cross provided representatives on board. The Argentines agreed safe passage for the ships as cartle ships, which meant they could move in a war zone providing they carried no weapons or carried out any act of war. The British Government held back 600 special category prisoners until the Argentine government formally recognised the end of hostilities. The special category prisoners were held until 30th June, when they were put onboard the MV St Edmund, but she did not sail until 13th July, when the UK was convinced that active hostilities were at an end. The one British POW on the mainland, Flight Lieutenant Jeffrey Glover, whose Harrier had been shot down by a Blowpipe on 21st May and had been evacuated for medical treatment to the military hospital at Comodoro Rivadavia was once fit enough, released on 8th July.