The Russian forces who occupied Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson from March until November 2022 ran a “torture center” and other similar facilities at which they unlawfully detained and tortured Ukrainian civilians, Human Rights Watch asserted in a report issued on April 13.
The New York-based rights monitor said the purported torture center was located on Teploenerhetykiv Street, while other detention centers were allegedly located in a municipal building, a local school, and an airport hangar. According to victims interviewed by HRW, the occupation forces beat prisoners, subjected them to electric shocks and painful stress positions, and threatened them with death or mutilation.
“Those responsible for these horrific acts should not go unpunished,” said HRW senior Ukraine researcher Yulia Gorbunova. “And the victims and their families need to receive redress for their suffering and information about those still missing.”
Moscow did not immediately respond to the report, but has stated in the past that its forces in Ukraine have not committed war crimes or targeted civilians, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
HRW interviewed 34 locals about the alleged abuse of civilians in a follow-up to a similar report issued in July 2022.
Interviewees said the civilians were abducted on suspicion of providing or expressing support for the Ukrainian military or government or for fighting against Russia-backed separatists in parts of eastern Ukraine. One woman reported being held hostage until her fugitive husband surrendered himself.
Russian forces also allegedly took at least three detained civilians with them when they withdrew from the area in the face of a November 2022 Ukrainian counteroffensive.
“The treatment of all Ukrainian citizens in occupied areas is increasingly alarming,” Gorbunova said.
HRW said many of the alleged acts amount to war crimes. The report notes that “all parties to the armed conflict in Ukraine are obligated to abide by international humanitarian law,” including the Geneva Conventions.
On April 4, the UN Human Rights Council overwhelmingly voted in favor of extending and expanding the mandate of an investigative body probing possible war crimes in Ukraine. [RFE/NS]
