People were detained and tortured in the occupied settlements of Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
Human Rights Watch has documented cases of Russian war crimes in occupied southern Ukraine. This is stated in the report of the human rights organization.
“Russian forces have turned the occupied territories of southern Ukraine into a whirlpool of terror and wild fighting… Torture, inhumane treatment, and arbitrary detention and unlawful detention of civilians are among the clear which are war crimes that we have documented,” said a senior. Human Rights Watch researcher in Ukraine Yulia Gorbunova.
HRW spoke to 71 people from Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Skadovsk and ten other cities in Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, who described 42 cases of detention and torture by the occupiers.
“People interviewed said they were tortured or witnessed torture in the form of prolonged beatings and, in some cases, electric shocks. They described injuries, including broken ribs and other bones, broken teeth, severe burns, concussions, cuts and bruises,” the report said.
In particular, the torture of three captive servicemen of the territorial defense forces was recorded. Two of them died.
In all but one of the detentions, Russian forces failed to tell the families where their loved ones were. In some cases, detainees were released only after they signed a statement promising to “cooperate” with the occupying authorities.
“Apparently, the purpose of the abuses is to obtain information and instill fear so that people agree to the occupation, while Russia seeks to assert sovereignty over the occupied territory in violation of international law,” the human rights activists emphasized.
Earlier, HRW found that Russian troops carried out killings of civilians, tortured them and committed other illegal acts during the occupation of Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.
Human rights activists have documented dozens of Russian crimes in Bucha
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.