Scores of prisoners of war captured by Russian and Ukrainian forces as part of the conflict in Ukraine are being subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including electric shocks, the United Nations warned on Tuesday (15 November).
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“The prohibition of torture and ill-treatment is absolute, even, in fact, especially during armed conflict;Matilda Bogner, head of the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, said during a video conference from Kyiv.
The mission has been granted unfettered access to POW sites controlled by the Ukrainian government, but the UN has not yet received secret access to POWs held by Russia and its allied armed groups, despite its request.
However, the mission met with released Ukrainian prisoners of war. Matilda Bogner explained that those arrested by Russian forces were tortured “quite systematic“. Ordinary soldiers were tortured less severely than others, especially “snipersand the musketeers. “The vast majority“Interlocutors captured by Russian forces and its allied armed groups”told us that they were tortured and ill-treated during their detention“, he said. Not only to extract information from them, but alsointimidate and humiliate“daily.
“Attacked by dogs”
As soon as they were caught, some of them were beaten and then taken to the detention center.often in overcrowded trucks or buseswithout constant access to water and toilets for more than a day. “Their hands were tied, their eyes were tied with tape so tight that they left wounds on their wrists and faces.said Matilda Bogner.
POWs are subdued upon arrivaladmission procedures“According to the testimonies collected by the UN, during which they were especially beaten, attacked by dogs or stripped. Many have been subjected to various forms of sexual violence. “Detainees described being beaten, including with batons and wooden mallets, kicked and given electric shocks.“Especially with electric guns,” said Matilda Bogner.
The UN is trying to verify the information it received about the death of 8 prisoners of war in a penal colony near Olenivka in April.
The mission also interviewed 20 female prisoners of war, some of whom were sent to a colony near Olenivka. The latter, the UN official said, was not subjected to physical violence, but he heard the cries of the tortured men in the neighboring cells. In other centers, female prisoners captured by the Russians said they were beaten, electrocuted and threatened with sexual assault, or forced to run naked in the presence of guards.
“Electric shocks”
The UN also got itcredible allegationssummary executions of Russian prisoners of war captured by Ukrainian forces and several cases of torture and ill-treatment. “We documented cases of torture and ill-treatment, mostly when people were captured (by kyiv, editor’s note)or while they were under preliminary interrogation or being transferred to transit camps and places of detention– explained Matilda Bogner.
Some were stabbed or electrocuted, abused by law enforcement or the Ukrainian military. “Many spoke of the poor, often humiliating, conditions in which they were evacuated to transit camps and detention facilities. Often naked, they were herded into trucks or minibuses with their hands tied behind their backs“, he added.
He also reminded that the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment “absoluteincluding during armed conflicts.
Source: Le Figaro
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