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Another Two Criminal Cases Initiated on Instances of Firing at Civilians in Donbass

The Investigative Committee of Russia continues to document crimes of Ukrainian armed formations against the civilian population of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

According to the available data, from March 10 to 12, 2022, multiple artillery and mortar attacks were documented, as well as instances of using the Tochka-U tactical missile system by Ukrainian armed formations against settlements where civilians stayed and critical civilian infrastructure facilities in the DPR and LPR.

As a result of shelling of Kirovsky, Kuibyshevsky, Petrovsky Districts of Donetsk, Gorlovka and Volnovakha in the DPR, as well as the settlements of Pervomaisk and Stakhanov in the LPR, 3 civilians noncombatants suffered injuries of varying severity. 77 residential houses and administrative buildings in the people's republics were damaged and destroyed, including a boarding house for elderly and disabled citizens in Gorlovka, as well as buildings of two medical institutions; one shell hit the territory of a school in Kuibyshevsky District of Donetsk.

Shelling of settlements with highly destructive weapons of indiscriminate action by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainian nationalist armed formations violate the provisions of Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted at the third session of the UN General Assembly by Resolution 217 A (III) of 10.12.1948), Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Geneva, 12.08.1949), and the additional protocols thereto, as well as Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land (the Hague, 18.10.1907). The above documents declare the right of every person to life, liberty and personal inviolability, establish guarantees for the civilian population and facilities that should not be the object of attacks during military operations, establish a ban on attacking or bombing unprotected cities, villages, dwellings, or buildings.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation initiated two criminal cases under Article 356 of the Criminal Code (ill-treatment of civilians, use of means and methods prohibited by an international treaty of the Russian Federation in an armed conflict). The circumstances of the incident and the persons involved in these crimes are being established.