Russia conducted 'widespread torture and ill-treatment of civilian detainees': UN human rights office

27 June 2023

The United Nations Human Rights Office released an assessment on Tuesday revealing how Russia has detained, tortured, and killed Ukrainian civilians during the first fifteen months of President Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion.

"The findings in our report are based on 1,136 interviews with victims, witnesses and others, 274 site visits and 70 visits to official places of detention run by Ukrainian authorities," writes Matilda Bogner, Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

"We documented over 900 cases of arbitrary detention of civilians, including children, and elderly people." the report states. "The vast majority of these cases were perpetrated by the Russian Federation. Ukraine gave us unimpeded confidential access to official places of detention and detainees, with one exception. The Russian Federation did not grant us such access, despite our requests."

In addition to the hundreds of instances of "arbitrary detention," Bogner's investigation found that Russia conducted "filtration" efforts and "held incommunicado" those whom they suspected of supporting Ukraine. Bogner further "documented the summary execution of 77 civilians while they were arbitrarily detained by the Russian Federation. Some of these cases were included in our report on killings published in December."

Bogner notes that "Russian armed forces, law enforcement and penitentiary authorities engaged in widespread torture and ill-treatment of civilian detainees. Most of those we interviewed said they had been tortured and ill-treated, and in some cases subjected to sexual violence. Torture was used to force victims to confess to helping Ukrainian armed forces, compel them to cooperate with the occupying authorities, or intimidate those with pro-Ukrainian views."

Bogner also points out that Ukraine used similar tactics, albeit on a smaller scale.

"We documented 75 cases of arbitrary detention by Ukrainian security forces, mostly of people suspected of conflict-related offenses. A significant proportion of these cases also amounted to enforced disappearance, perpetrated mainly by the Security Service of Ukraine," Bogner adds. "We documented that over halfof those arbitrarily detained were subjected to torture or ill-treatment by Ukrainian security forces. This happened while people were being interrogated, usually immediately after arrest."

Bogner's press release continues here.

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