The use of physical and psychological torture by the Russian military to try to obtain information or coerce confessions from prisoners in Ukraine is “systematic and deliberate,” denounced this Thursday in Geneva, the UN Special Rapporteur.
In a message addressed to the Russian Federation, Alice Jill Edwards reported on testimonies and reports from the field showing that torture methods are also used against persons believed to have been members or supporters of the Ukrainian armed forces.
These practices “include electric shocks, beatings, hijacking, mock executions and other death threats,” he explained.
“If confirmed, they constitute individual violations and may also indicate a pattern of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment authorized by the state,” the ministry said in a statement.
According to the UN expert, the level of coordination, planning and organization of these alleged tortures suggests that they were carried out with “direct permission, deliberate policy or through the official tolerance of higher authorities”.
Edwards recalled that the systematic practice of torture constitutes a crime against humanity and underlined that “obedience to superior orders or political directives cannot be invoked as a justification for these acts”..
The report on which Edwards relies indicates that torture causes “physical and psychological trauma” to victims, after reports of hallucinations, internal organ damage, fractures, extreme weight loss and strokes.
Moreover, tortured persons did not receive adequate medical care during their detention.
The rapporteur urged the authorities to ensure the protection of prisoners of war in Ukraine and to ensure that they are always treated humanely.
Edwards plans to visit Ukraine before the end of 2023 to investigate the situation there.
The widespread use of torture has also been denounced in reports by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry into Ukraine, which has noted that these and other abuses may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Source: DN
