The so-called assembly camps are the only route allowed by the Russians out of the occupied Mariupol. The majority of people end up in Russia. The information can be found in the media sources compiled by .
Paula Collin,
Jasmina Kauta
According to several sources, civilians living in Mariupol have been transported to so-called assembly camps throughout eastern Ukraine.
The camps are the only way allowed by the Russians to get out of the occupied Mariupol. According to news agencies, the port city of Mariupol is still trapped by about 100,000 civilians.
In this story, we tell you what is currently known about the camps and their conditions.
1. Tens of thousands taken to camps
Tens of thousands of Mariupol residents have been taken to assembly camps, according to Ukrainian sources. Some people have been forcibly taken out of their homes, some have left voluntarily.
Data on the number of Mariupol residents taken to camps vary. Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boychenkon according to 31,000 residents have been taken to camps, he said The Washington Times (moving to another service) in early April. According to Boychenko, people may have had to wait in camps for weeks.
Mayor of Mariupol Petro Andrushenko in turn, said in mid-April Ukrainian news agency Interfaxin (moving to another service) Russia says at least 20,000 people are being held in assembly camps near Mariupol. According to Andrushenko, about 5,000 to 7,000 people are camped in the village of Bezimenne, twenty kilometers from the Russian border.
According to civilian interviews in foreign media, some Mari residents have ended up in camps voluntarily, some have been forcibly transported there. BBC (switch to another service) told a few days ago about a couple who left their home voluntarily for an evacuation point from where they were transported to one of the assembly camps near Nikolske Mariupol.
2. Ukrainians are photographed and registered
At the assembly camps, fingerprints are collected from Ukrainians and photographs are taken of them. The interrogation examines civilians’ connections with, among others, Ukrainian decision-makers, journalists and the military.
The couple, who escaped from Mariupol, described To the BBC (switch to another service) interrogations to be similar to those in prison. The Russians investigated the couple’s phones and investigated possible links to Ukrainian decision-makers, journalists or the military.
The Guardian (switch to another service) the woman interviewed at the camp said the interrogations were very extensive. According to the woman, the interrogators presented themselves as representatives of the Russian Security Service FSB. According to the woman, the interrogations also asked for opinions about Putin, Ukraine and the conflict.
A young Ukrainian woman told an American To The Washington Post (go to another service)that the interrogations found out which family members were left in the country. According to the woman, Russian authorities urged her and her family to be grateful that they had been “released”.
The mayor of Mariupol Boychenko is news agency AP (you switch to another service) said those who do not pass screening in the camps have been transferred to temporary prisons. The couple interviewed by the BBC also say that if there was any suspicion during the interrogations, the person was taken to Donetsk for further interrogation, torture or killing.
Russia has not confirmed the above information.
3. “Circumstances other than concentration camp”
The information about the conditions of the assembly camps is based on the information provided by a few who left the camps. They describe the conditions as bad.
Very little information is available so far on the conditions of the assembly camps. The information is mainly based on the accounts of civilians who escaped the camps.
According to the couple, the conditions were bad. The elderly slept in the hallways without mattresses or blankets. Thousands of people used the same toilet and sink, says the couple interviewed by the BBC. Soaps, disinfectants, toilet paper and sanitary napkins ran out.
A satellite image released by space technology company Maxar in late March shows one of the suspected camps in Bezimenne. The picture has been published by, among others BBC (switch to another service). The pro-Russian Donbass representatives are The Guardian (switch to another service) reported that a tent city of 30 tents has been set up in Bezimenne for the people of Mariupol, which can accommodate 450 people.
4. People are transported from the camps to Russia
The Ukrainians who passed the interrogations will be transported from the camps to Russia. According to President Zelensky, people are often taken as far away as Siberia or the Far East.
According to various sources, it appears that people are being transported from assembly camps to Russia.
The Guardian (switch to another service) the woman who escaped from Mariupol interviewed said she was transported from the camp to the Russian city of Rostov, about 130 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. There, people were told that the final destination would be Vladimir, a city east of Moscow.
However, according to the magazine, the woman decided to stay aboard, claiming to Russian guards that her family lives in Rostov. According to the woman, he was able to leave moderately easily.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said BBC (switch to another service)that buses travel to Russia clearly better than to the rest of Ukraine.
Deputy Director of Europe and Central Asia, Human Rights Watch Tatyana Lokshina in turn, has told The Guardian that many have not been given access to the safest parts of Ukraine. In practice, most had to choose between leaving for Russia or being bombed.
5. War crimes are being actively investigated
Various bodies, such as organizations and the International Court of Justice, are investigating suspected war crimes in Ukraine. The professor of international law believes that more will be known about the camps in a couple of months.
What all the information imported from the Russian-occupied territories is true and what is not is still unclear.
Professor Emeritus of International Law Martti Koskenniemen according to which legally satisfactory information can be obtained within a few months. Instead of the positions of the parties to the war, Koskenniemi recommends looking at objective sources.
According to him, the suspected war crimes are already being investigated by many different parties in addition to the International Criminal Court, or ICC.
Koskenniemi says that the Center of Civil Liberties, which is active in Eastern Europe, is also investigating war crimes. The Center is funded by, among others, the EU and the United Nations Development Organization, which also has its own bodies in Ukraine.
In addition, Eurojust, a joint EU-led coordinating body for prosecutors, has set up a co-operation unit to investigate war crimes in Ukraine.
– Many countries have also sent their prosecutors to assist the aforementioned parties in the investigation. For example, a DNA laboratory has been sent from France, Koskenniemi says.
Even open sources, such as content and data from social media, are also systematically researched in various media houses. The international team of journalists Bellingcat has also put Ukraine on its agenda.
6. The activities described by civilians are criminal
Civilian reports of Russian actions in the camps indicate a violation of international agreements. Russia has failed to comply with the agreements before.
Warfare and its consequences are dealt with in many international treaties and regulations. If civilians’ accounts of the camps are true, Russia’s actions violate, for example Geneva Convention (moving to another service)on the protection of civilians.
Russia, for example, should not violate the mental or physical integrity of civilians or treat them inhumanely. The land occupied by the territory must not forcibly relocate or retain civilians from the occupied territory. If evacuation is necessary, Russia should not evacuate outside the occupied territory, especially outside its borders.
– In my opinion, Russia has hardly complied with these provisions of the agreement, Koskenniemi states.
Russia also set up assembly camps in the Chechen wars a couple of decades ago. Human Rights Watch already reported in 2000 (moving to another service) the beating, torture, looting and rape of civilian Chechens taken to camps.
Crimes committed during the wars in Chechnya continue to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights. According to Koskenniemi, most countries have made war crimes and crimes against humanity punishable.
– Once perpetrators, such as soldiers, commanders or military leadership, are identified, an international arrest warrant may be issued against them, allowing them to be arrested wherever they move.