Russia accused of torturing Ukrainian captives
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krainians launched from Russian captivity allege they have been subjected to torture, together with beatings and electrical shocks, in addition to disadvantaged of meals and medical treatment.
Both women and men held at a detention website in Taganrog, a port metropolis in southwestern Russia, stated they have been repeatedly overwhelmed, together with within the kidneys and chest, and given electrical shocks in each day interrogations.
The testimonies from a dozen ex-detainees launched in prisoner swaps have been gathered in a BBC News investigation printed on Wednesday, in what may quantity to severe violations of worldwide humanitarian legislation. Russia has beforehand denied torturing or mistreating captives, however didn’t reply to requests to remark.
“Captives are constantly left under-nourished, and those who are injured are not given appropriate medical assistance, with reports of detainees dying at the facility,” the report additionally stated.
Artem Seredniak, a senior lieutenant, had already been in Russian captivity for 4 months when he and about 50 different Ukrainians have been transferred to Pre-Trial Detention Facility Number Two in Taganrog final September.
Russian guards pummelled Seredniak with shocks from an electrical stun weapon in his again, groin and neck, he stated.
“That’s how they worked on everybody,” he stated. “They hammered you like a nail.”
More than 2,500 Ukrainians have been launched for the reason that begin of Russia’s invasion however as much as 10,000 others are believed to stay in Russian custody, in accordance with human rights teams.
In March, a report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated Russia had “failed to ensure the humane treatment” of prisoners, with “strong patterns of violations”.
The Russian authorities has not allowed any outdoors our bodies, together with the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to go to the Taganrog facility which earlier than the warfare was used completely to carry Russian prisoners.