Polish authorities arrested an Austrian suspected of committing war crimes in eastern Ukraine
Polish authorities reported on April 30th that they have arrested an Austrian suspected of committing war crimes in eastern Ukraine, as reported by Radio Liberty.
According to the Polish Border Guard, a 25-year-old man was detained at the Dorohusk Polish border checkpoint three days ago as he tried to cross the border into Ukraine. Austria is now requiring him to be extradited.
The detainee, the Polish border guards indicate, is suspected of "killing the wounded and prisoners," which is a war crime according to the Geneva Convention.
There are contradictory reports about exactly which side the detained Austrian fought for in the armed conflict in the Donbas. A representative of the Polish border police, Dariusz Senitsky, was quoted by the AFP as saying that the detainee "was a member of a separatist group."
At the same time, a representative of the Austrian Prosecutor's Office, Erich Habitzl, said on April 30th that this man fought on the side of the forces loyal to the Ukrainian government, including in the battle at the Donetsk airport.
Since April 2014, nearly 10,000 people have been killed in the war between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists.