Hundreds of people who have been abducted and often subjected to torture and other ill-treatment by separatist and pro-Russian armed groups in Eastern Ukraine. The lawless situation in eastern Ukraine has been facilitated by the erosion of the rule of law over the past six months which has seen repeated amnesties for perpetrators of crimes and a failure to demonstrate the political will to investigate such crimes. Once the conflict is over, the authorities must ensure that allegations of human rights violations committed by both sides in the conflict are effectively investigated.