Tunisia is investigating press reports claiming that a number of its nationals held in Ukrainian prisons were forcibly recruited to join the fighting against Russia in the Ukraine war, a source in the Tunisian Foreign Ministry said Monday.
“Tunisian authorities contacted Ukrainian ambassador in Tunisia (Volodymyr Khomanets) to request information about the reports, which were based on testimonies of Tunisians in Ukraine,” Director of Public Diplomacy and Information at the ministry, Mohamed Trabelsi, told the German news agency (dpa).
Trabelsi said that his country told the Ukrainian ambassador that this issue violates international law.
Khomanets assured him that the reports are false.
Tunisia’s private radio station Mosaique revealed last week an application form written in Ukrainian to be filled by Tunisian prisoners and others that allows them to take part in the fighting.
Dating back to February 25, the application is addressed to the director of prisons and detention centers and the Ukrainian presidency.
The radio obtained one such application that was signed by a Tunisian detainee. The document bears his signature and that of the director of prisons, Sergei Protsango.
Meanwhile, Tunisia said it repatriated on Monday more than 500 of its nationals in Ukraine.
A fourth evacuation flight reached the Tunis-Carthage International Airport on Monday morning coming from Romania and Poland.
“We are communicating on a daily basis with the Ukrainian ambassador to follow up on the evacuation of Tunisians,” Trabelsi said.
