UN report details abuse and torture in Russian prisons
Editor’s note: The following article contains graphic material detailing reports of torture and sexual violence.
The window in the door frames the corridor at the District Police Department used by Russian occupiers for torture, Balakliia, Kharkiv Region, northeastern Ukraine.
Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy | Ukrinform | Future Publishing | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — A report commissioned by the United Nations found that Russian forces have committed widespread abuse against prisoners captured during the invasion of Ukraine.
The report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found that both Russia and Ukraine have captured a high number of prisoners of war. In some cases, the investigators found that Ukrainian forces tortured Russian troops, though those incidents were less frequent.
In preparing the report, investigators conducted 159 interviews over the course of eight months. The report follows a separate U.N. account of widespread human rights abuses by Russia during the war.
Investigators said that before Ukrainian service members were transferred to a makeshift Russian detention facility or penal colony, they were stripped of their belongings, including money, credit cards, jewelry, military clothes and boots.
The report said prisoners of war, or POWs, were then sent to places of internment in inhumane ways:
They were often transported in overcrowded trucks or buses and sometimes lacked access to water or toilets for more than a day.
Their hands were tied and eyes covered so tightly with duct tape that wounds were left on their wrists and faces that continued to bleed for up to several days.
Some former Ukrainian POWs recounted sporadic incidents where Russian soldiers who had captured, transported or guarded Ukrainian POWs beat them in apparent retribution for military setbacks or in the immediate aftermath of battle.
The conditions of the Russian detention facilities were described as overcrowded and dirty with insufficient lighting and heat, according to investigators.
Prisoners said they were denied access to natural light or fresh air, and were kept in a single cell with up to 30 other people. They also described a lack of beds, toilets, showers and hygiene items such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, the report said.
Female prisoners told investigators they were subjected to invasive examinations during admission procedures in the presence of male guards. The women prisoners also said they were forced to undress and walk naked down hallways. Some women said they were ordered to undress, bend over and touch their feet while guards beat their backs with batons, according to the report.
The women prisoners who were interviewed said that while they were not physically tortured, they were placed in cells close to where male prisoners were being beaten and tortured.
“They were constantly psychologically tormented by the screams of male POWs being tortured or ill-treated. Such episodes lasted up to hours and took place at all times of the day…
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