The United Nations Human Rights office claimed that, Russian military tortured people captured in connection with their aggression on Ukraine, and ruthlessly killing scores of them.
According to the UN report, more than 900 examples of individuals, including children and old people, have been unlawfully arrested in the war. The international organization has spoken with hundreds of victims and witnesses, and majority of these cases were committed by Moscow.
According to the head of the United Nations Human Rights office in Ukraine Matilda Bogner, a large number of those interrogated, indicated they endured abuse and in some cases, sexually abused while detained by Russian forces.
“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.”
Matilda Bogner, Head of UN Human Right Office In Ukraine.
The assessment spanned the 15-month period of the war, thus, from the beginning of the Russian invasion, to May 2023. The report also listed 75 instances of unlawful imprisonment by Ukrainian security officers, noting that, a sizable number of them also constituted to forced abductions.
According to Bogner, over half of those held by Ukrainian forces, reported being tortured or harassed, mainly when they were questioned, shortly after arrest. However, Ukraine granted UN investigators “unimpeded confidential access” to prisoners at official detention facilities, with the exception of 87 Russian sailors, she said. “The Russian Federation did not grant us such access, despite our requests,” Bogner said.
More often than not, the United Nations Human Rights Office earlier, recorded Russia’s abduction and ruthless massacre of Ukrainian prisoners of war. According to the most recent report, Russian forces additionally carried out at least, 77 murders of civilians.
Moreover, the investigations concluded that, many of those abducted were kept incommunicado in “deplorable conditions,” and the detainees included local leaders, humanitarian volunteers, priests, and teachers.
On the other hand, UN investigators found no indication that Russian authorities probed complaints of torture by their own soldiers, and the report raised worries over the measure that would shield culprits from criminal accountability for crimes perpetrated in occupied portions of Ukraine, under certain conditions.
“This would violate the state’s obligation to investigate and prosecute serious violations of international humanitarian law and gross violations of international human rights law,” Bogner said.
The U.N. rights agency disclosed that, it was unaware of any inquiries into Ukraine’s own forces for similar crimes, despite the fact that Ukraine has begun criminal cases against Russian forces over the arrest of civilians, leading to 23 indictments.
According to Bogner, Ukraine’s law on detention on national security grounds “appear to go beyond what is permissible under international law, even during a public emergency, and have facilitated arbitrary detention.”
Bogner encouraged both parties to free any civilians, who are still being imprisoned unlawfully by one side or the other, and also alert families of the whereabouts and condition of those who are being held.
Both sides of the war have accused each other of unlawful detention of civilians. In March, 2023, a UN report accused Moscow of wrongfully deporting Ukrainian children to places under Russia control.
According to the report, Russia has implemented procedures such as awarding Russian citizenship and placing children in foster homes in order to “create a framework in which some of the children may end up remaining permanently” in Russia.
According to UN investigators, while the transfers were supposed to be temporary, “most became prolonged,” with both parents and children experiencing “an array of obstacles in establishing contact.”
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