The UN commission published new evidence of torture and abuse in the occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region

The UN’s independent international commission to investigate violations in Ukraine has documented new evidence that the Russian authorities committed war crimes in the form of torture, rape and other settlements in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

This is stated in the report of the commission presented to the UN General Assembly.

The document notes that torture was widely used by the Russian authorities in the territories it occupied. In particular, relevant testimonies were obtained from people who were in prisons.

“The use of torture by the Russian authorities was widespread and systematic. In the investigated cases, the criminals mostly tortured people whom they accused of passing information to the Ukrainian authorities or otherwise supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The victims were men and women aged 29 to 57. Representatives of the Russian authorities usually used torture during interrogations. They were often repeated and were mostly aimed at obtaining information from the victims,” ​​the report states.

Former detainees reported the existence of rooms specially set aside for interrogations and torture. The commission documented additional detention facilities where Russian authorities regularly used torture. Some were improvised, such as in schools or kindergartens, while others were held in established structures such as the police and penitentiary centers. Among the places investigated were, in particular, the police headquarters and Primorsky Correctional Colony No. 145, both in the city of Berdyansk.

The Commission has previously documented cases of sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by the Russian authorities