The methods of the alleged physical torture administered by occupying Russian forces have included electric shocks to genitals and other parts of the body, beatings and various forms of suffocation.
By Anthony Deutsch, Anna Voitenko and Olena Harmash
The methods of the alleged physical torture administered by occupying Russian forces have included electric shocks to genitals and other parts of the body, beatings and various forms of suffocation, according to interviews with more than a dozen alleged victims, members of Ukrainian law enforcement and international prosecutors assisting Ukraine.
According to the most comprehensive figures to date on the scale of alleged torture and detentions, shared exclusively with Reuters by Ukraine’s top war crimes prosecutor, the country’s authorities have opened pre-trial investigations involving more than a thousand people in the Kherson region who were allegedly abducted and illegally detained by Russian forces during their months-long occupation.
Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out war crimes and the West of ignoring them, including alleging that Ukrainian soldiers had executed Russian prisoners of war. The United Nations in November said it had found evidence that both sides had tortured prisoners of war, with a U.N. official saying Russian abuse was “fairly systematic.” Kyiv has previously said it would investigate any alleged abuses by its armed forces.
Of more than 50,000 reports of war crimes that have been registered with Ukrainian authorities, Belousov said more than 7,700 have come from the Kherson region. More than 540 civilians remain missing from the region, he added. Some people have been taken to Russian-held territory in apparent forced deportations, including children, according to Kovalenko, the regional prosecutor.
The numbers that are emerging on the scale of alleged detentions and torture, “point to widespread and grave criminality in Russian-occupied territory,” said British lawyer Nigel Povoas, lead prosecutor with a Western-backed team of legal specialists assisting Kyiv’s efforts to prosecute war crimes. During a December visit to the building’s basement, the smell of human excrement filled the air, bricked-up windows blocked the light and lying visible were signs of what Ukrainian authorities say were tools of torture by Russian forces such as metal pipes, plastic ties for ligatures and a wire hanging from the ceiling allegedly used to administer electric shocks.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Scale of alleged torture, detentions by Russian forces in Kherson emerges'I was a living corpse': New details about alleged abuse taken by Ukrainian prisoners include hands submerged in boiling water, beatings with rifle butts and electric shocks to genitals.
Read more »
Russian mercenary firm claims strategic Ukrainian town of Soledar, control unclearUkraine's eastern salt mining town of Soledar hung in the balance as Russia's mercenary firm Wagner claimed control, but continued fighting and Kyiv's assertion earlier that its forces were holding out raised uncertainty.
Read more »
Russian mercenaries close in on Soledar, a strategic mining town in eastern UkraineKYIV — Soledar was a relatively unremarkable city in the eastern region of Donetsk before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The name literally translates as 'gift of salt,' owing to its home to enormous salt mines, the largest in Europe. Now those mines serve as defensive positions for Ukraine's embattled military. Should the city fall to Russian forces, which consist almost exclusively of mercenaries from the infamous Wagner Group, Russian forces would be able to increase pressure on the Ukrainian fortress city of Bakhmut, a strategic hub that has been under a relentless Russian siege since the beginning of August.
Read more »
Russian mercenaries close in on Soledar, a mining town in eastern UkraineSoledar was a relatively unremarkable city in the eastern region of Donetsk before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The name literally translates as “gift of salt,” owing to its home to enormous salt mines, the largest in Europe. Now those mines serve as defensive positions for Ukraine’s embattled military. Should the city fall to Russian forces, which consist almost exclusively of mercenaries from the infamous Wagner Group, Russian forces would be able to increase pressure on the Ukrainian fortress city of Bakhmut, a strategic hub that has been under a relentless Russian siege since the beginning of August.
Read more »
‘What madness looks like’: Russia intensifies Bakhmut attackKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces are escalating their onslaught against Ukrainian positions around the wrecked city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian officials said, bringing new levels of death and d…
Read more »