The UN warns that a trial of prisoners in Mariúpol would be a war crime

MADRID, 23 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The UN Human Rights office on Tuesday expressed its "concern" about the possible start of a trial against prisoners captured by the Russian side in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, to the extent that carrying it out could even amount to a war crime.

The United Nations has echoed speculation that "in the next few days" there may be a trial, after images of the alleged installation of cages in a Mariupol theater have begun to circulate.

At the controls of this court, "listed as an 'international court'", would be the Russian forces and separatist rebels loyal to Moscow operating in eastern Ukraine, said the spokeswoman for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani .

This spokeswoman recalled that International Law also contemplates prisoners of war, who, for example, enjoy certain immunity and cannot be prosecuted by an actor participating in the armed conflict.

If charged, "they have the right to due process and the guarantees of a fair trial." "They cannot receive any sentence or punishment if it does not derive from an impartial and legally constituted judge," he added.

Shamdasani has disgraced the Russian authorities and the related armed groups that systematically classify the prisoners captured from the Ukrainian side as "war criminals, Nazis and terrorists", since he considers that the presumption of innocence of the that any detainee should enjoy.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that if the Mariupol trials begin, there will be no possibility of negotiations between kyiv and Moscow.