At least 864 Ukrainian citizens, including 94 women and seven children, were arbitrarily detained by Russian forces in Ukraine, according to a United Nations report, which accuses Russia of summarily executing 77 people.
The United Nations report was presented this Tuesday at a press conference in Geneva by Matilda Bogner, head of the UN Human Rights Office in Ukraine.
According to the official, 91% of detention cases reported being subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including sexual assault.
The document was prepared with the help of the UN fact-finding mission in Ukraine and documents 75 possible cases of arbitrary detention of civilians by Ukrainian security forces who isolated people to obtain information.
The UN agency headed by High Commissioner Volker Turk reports that while Ukraine cooperated with the institution by allowing access to the detainees – with the exception of the 87 Russian sailors who were detained on the border with Romania – Russia did not facilitate the investigation, so the “data from both sides should not be compared”.
In the case of those detained by Russian forces, the UN says the civilians have been “deprived of their liberty”.
According to the UN, at least 260 civilians were detained for alleged crimes of expression, including civil servants, activists, humanitarian workers, social leaders, teachers and priests.
Of these 260 people, 221 (including one minor) were transferred to detention centers or deported to the territory of the Russian Federation, a practice that, the UN reminded, violates international humanitarian law.
Detainees were deprived of their liberty in several locations, including Kiev, Kherson, Krakow, Zaporijia and Odessa, and held in centers in Ukraine, Russia and at least one in Belarus.
According to the document, the arrests were mainly carried out by military personnel or employees of the information and security services (FSB), “usually in large numbers and traveling in military vehicles, with (their faces covered by) balaclavas and weapons of war.” .
The prisoners were transferred illegally and transported “with their hands tied and blindfolded, in an awkward position in trucks and military vehicles full of people”.
“They were left in the open at night, on the ground, exposed to the cold and hostilities,” the UN document points out.
On the torture practices described by civilians to UN investigators, those detained by Russian troops refer to “cuts and blows with the insertion of sharp objects under the fingernails, simulated drowning (“waterboarding”), electrocutions, exposure to cold and extreme heat , food and water shortages or simulated executions.
The document refers to at least 36 cases of sexual assault against 25 men and 11 women, including rape, threats, electrical discharges on the genitals and nipples, or forced nudity.
In addition to the 77 executions of civilians (72 men and five women) by the Russian invaders, the report denounces the deaths of two other prisoners who did not survive the torture because they did not receive medical treatment.
In cases detained by Ukrainian forces, 43 people said they had been tortured and ill-treated, mostly in unofficial detention centers.
The report notes that while Ukraine has “investigated some of these abuses,” resulting in 23 convictions, Russia reportedly took no legal action.
The document urges the parties (Russia and Ukraine) not to commit abuses and to identify those responsible who must be prosecuted.
The study included 70 visits to detention centers and 1,136 interviews with detainees, relatives or witnesses.
Due to the lack of access to the territory occupied by Russian troops, data was obtained from contacts with relatives and people who were released.
Source: DN
