United Nations, Aug 24 (TIWN) Trials of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) by Russian-backed authorities in occupied Mariupol could start within days, the UN Human Rights Office said, as it warned such proceedings could amount to war crimes under international law.

The number of prisoners to be tried, the charges and the composition of the court were all unclear, she said.  The UN has demanded the prisoners be allowed access to independent visitors.  Shamdasani said the UN Human Rights Office fears deaths sentences will handed out by what occupation authorities are falsely calling an 'international tribunal' and that credible reports have been seen that suggest some of the Ukrainians being held have been tortured.  'We recall that international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of courts solely to judge prisoners of war and that wilfully depriving a prisoner of war of the rights of fair and regular trial amounts to a war crime,' she said.  According to the Moscow-backed separatist leader in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, 'investigations' have been completed in 80 cases and 23 people have been arrested.