They are being tortured with electric shocks: at least 4,000 peaceful Ukrainians are being held captive by the Russian Federation
According to Mykhailo Sava, an expert at the Center for Civil Liberties, prisoners have only one source of information — Russian TV or radio. They are forced to sing the Russian national anthem, “Katyusha”, “Victory Day”, and songs by Oleg Gazmanov.
At least four thousand peaceful Ukrainians, whose names and circumstances of abduction are known to human rights defenders, are held captive by the Russian Federation. Mykhailo Sava, an expert at the Center for Civil Liberties, which protects the rights of missing civilians, told the Russian publication “Vazhnye istorii” about this.
According to human rights activists, the real number of civilian prisoners may be even higher.
The publication emphasizes that International Humanitarian Law requires the parties to the conflict to release detained civilians without any conditions, but so far only 154 people have been returned to Ukraine.
According to Sava, at first, the Russian authorities answered questions about peaceful Ukrainians in captivity that they were “detained for resisting a “special military operation”. The same wording was used for Ukrainian prisoners of war, the expert emphasized.
Currently, the authorities of the Russian Federation explain the detention of civilians in Russian pre-trial detention centers as “checking”.
Why are the Russians holding civilians in pretrial detention centers?
Today, Ukrainian human rights defenders know about 500 criminal cases initiated against civilian prisoners, the publication notes, most often these are cases on charges of espionage or preparation of a terrorist attack.
“They also include cases against people who, according to the authorities of the Russian Federation, are connected to the Azov regiment,” the report says.
In addition, Russian mass media added that the majority of civilian prisoners have been in Russian colonies since March 2022 without any procedural status.
“Many have no charges – only the prisoner’s inventory number. Ukrainians are kept in separate locations. There may be a separate building for them or a separate sector of buildings on the territory of the colony. Public workers do not have the opportunity to see them. Lawyers are not allowed into the detention center,” the expert noted. .
Ukrainians are forced to sing the Russian national anthem and patriotic songs
According to Mykhailo Sava, Ukrainian civilian prisoners have only one source of information — Russian TV or radio.
“They are forced to sing the Russian national anthem and patriotic songs. In all cases, it is the same set: “Katyusha”, “Victory Day”, Oleg Gazmanov’s songs,” the expert emphasized.
Torture of Ukrainian prisoners in Russian pre-trial detention centers
According to the Center for Civil Liberties, 90% of prisoners are subjected to torture.
“Our research was based on surveys of people who returned from captivity. Men are tortured more than women. The figure of 90% is confirmed by the UN Commission on Ukraine. We came to them independently of each other,” Sava explained.
According to an expert of the organization, when the occupiers plan to leave a person alive and then judge them, they torture in such a way that there are no obvious traces.
“For example, with an electric shocker. It leaves only dots on the body. If a person declares in court that he was tortured, the investigator explains it as bugs in the cell. There are also known cases when a person’s fingertips are cut open, so-called “roses” are made,” says Sava.
We will remind, earlier the representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Petro Yatsenko, said that the exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine was temporarily suspended on the Russian side, in an attempt to create the impression that the Ukrainian authorities are not actively working on this issue.