Human Rights Watch, the international human rights organisation, has accused Russian authorities and military personnel of systematically torturing Ukrainian soldiers who have fallen into captivity.

Source: a report by Human Rights Watch

Details: Human Rights Watch published a report based on interviews with hundreds of former prisoners of war, including 12 in-depth interviews.

Content warning: this article contains descriptions of traumatic events which may cause emotional distress.

Quote: "The evidence indicates that their [of Russian authorities and military – ed.] physical and psychological torture is a widespread pattern intended to break prisoners' sense of self and human dignity."

More details: The organisation has established that Russian authorities and forces have systematically tortured and cruelly treated prisoners during capture and throughout their detention.

Human Rights Watch has collected testimony about the widespread use of physical and psychological torture, as well as the detention of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in "atrocious conditions", in which imprisoned soldiers have had no access to adequate food, medical care or basic hygiene.

Former POWs who have been interviewed have described brutal beatings, being forced to remain in stress positions, sleep deprivation, mock executions, the use of electric shocks and attacks by dogs.

Quote: "All but one reported being subjected to sexual violence, including rape and the threat of rape, forced nudity, humiliation, and the application of electrical shocks to the genitals. One Ukrainian soldier, captured near Lysychansk in Luhansk Oblast, said Russian soldiers mocked his tattoo, which said 'Strength and Honour', and forced him to sit on a bottle while pressing down on his shoulders."

More details: Ukrainian soldiers have admitted that they have been held in inhuman conditions, with insufficient or inedible food, no basic hygiene products and largely no access to medical care, even in life-threatening cases.

Four people who have been interviewed have accused Russian medical staff of taking part in torture.

Quote: "A 50-year-old sergeant said that the day after he was detained in Luhansk Oblast in September 2022, three Russian military intelligence officials took him to an abandoned house near the front line, tied him to a chair, and gave him electric shocks for two to three hours, using a military field telephone and other devices."

They beat him with rubber batons, sticks, rifle butts, and a bludgeon (a heavy club with a metal head), striking his entire body and reopening an existing head wound. They demanded information on Ukrainian military positions and the names of his commanders."

More details: Another former prisoner has said that a Russian official threatened Ukrainian soldiers, who had been forced to kneel in front of him, that he would show them "the hole we dug out in the backyard and I'll show you what's left of prisoners [who misbehaved]".

Human Rights Watch has stressed that such actions are a serious breach of the Geneva Conventions and constitute war crimes, as torture of detained military personnel and civilians is strictly prohibited under international law.

Human rights advocates state that Russia must end torture and cruel treatment of Ukrainian prisoners, immediately release civilians who have been unlawfully detained and grant monitors access to places where Ukrainians are being held in custody.

The organisation insists that the actions of Russian officials responsible for torture and other abuses must be investigated, and those responsible must be brought to justice.

Background: A recent report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has indicated that more than 90% of Ukrainian civilians who have been unlawfully detained by Russians have been subjected to torture.

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