How Ukraine Torture Sites Became New Norm
The UN has accused Ukrainian law enforcement authorities and armed forces of torturing detainees and subjecting them to sexual violence in a newly-released report.
A significant increase in violations of the right to liberty and security of persons by Ukrainian security forces has been documented by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) since February 24, 2022.
''"In territory of Ukraine under control of the Government of Ukraine, OHCHR documented 91 cases of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions (79 men, 12 women) committed by Ukrainian armed forces and law enforcement agencies," the report said, adding that most detainees were arrested for suspicion of collaborating with, or other forms of aiding, Russian Armed Forces.
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In addition, the international organization documented the arbitrary detention of 88 Russian civilian sailors, one of whom died from a chronic condition due to the lack of adequate medical care.
The report also refers to the spike in conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in territory controlled by Kiev between March and July 2022. As per the OHCHR, these cases mostly affected men and consisted predominantly of threats of sexual violence during the initial stages of detention by Ukrainian law enforcement officers, and of forced public stripping of alleged lawbreakers by civilians or members of territorial defense forces.
The international entity also raised concerns about the overall fairness of proceedings during the prosecution of war crimes in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, evidence of torture and inhuman interrogation practices in the territories controlled by the government of Ukraine is continuing to pile up.
On May 30, a Russian law enforcement source told Sputnik that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has opened torture chambers to interrogate people who had cooperated with the Russian authorities while areas were under Russia's control between March and November 2022. The torture facilities were created at two district police departments, Dneprovsky and Komsomolsky in Dnepropetrovsk.
One of the detainees, Vladimir Malina, a former business assistant who stayed in Kherson after the pull-out of the Russian troops, was beaten to death in the torture chamber of the Dneprovsky police department, according to the Sputnik source. Two other prisoners, Roman Gavrilyuk and Igor Gurov, who also used to cooperate with the Russians, were tortured and forced to write an explanation that Malina was released together with them in a bid to conceal his death. Besides Malina, several other people were tortured in these chambers.
Since the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, the Russian military and allied militias have found numerous "improvised" torture rooms located in residential sectors, in basements, barns or gas stations where heavily mutilated bodies or traces thereof were discovered.
In particular, in March 2022, the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) militia discovered a Ukrainian torture chamber in the basement of a residential building near a village called Trekhizbenka in the Lugansk region. LPR militiamen told Sputnik that they found a murdered civilian in the basement and bloodstains on the floor. Judging from the corpse's condition, the man was tormented by the Ukrainian military prior to being shot in the head, according to the Sputnik source.
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