Article content

By Edith M. Lederer

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s torture of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war constitutes a crime against humanity, U.N.-backed human rights experts said Thursday.

Erik Møse, chairman of the independent commission investigating human rights violations in Ukraine, told reporters that the commission had previously described the widespread and systematic use of torture in Ukraine and Russia against civilians as a war crime. civilians and prisoners, men and women.

“Our recent findings demonstrate that Russian authorities committed acts of torture in all provinces of Ukraine under their control, as well as in detention centers investigated by the commission in the Russian Federation,” he said. he declared.

Article content

The Russian mission to the UN said it had no comment on the news conference or the report of the commission, appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.

Møse said the commission is an investigative body. He noted that Ukraine’s Prosecutor General and the International Criminal Court were investigating possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine and that evidence could be requested from the commission.

Commissioners reviewed reports from 41 different detention centers, from makeshift centers to well-established facilities, in nine occupied regions of Ukraine and eight zones of Russia, Møse said.

He added that the commission had identified additional evidence that violent practices common in Russian detention centers were also carried out in similar facilities in Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, he said. he added.

Article content

Article content

The commission also found additional evidence of the recurring use of sexual violence as a form of torture, Møse said.

Detainees were subjected to rape, prolonged periods of forced nudity, body searches and more, said commission member Vrinda Gover. She said most POWs reported being victims of sexual violence and long-term psychological trauma.

Ukrainians held in detention centers in Ukraine and Russia also reported “a so-called brutal intake process,” Gover said.

“Brutal practices intended to frighten, break, humiliate, coerce and punish detainees were routinely used,” she said.

Surveillance cameras were used to monitor detainees and harsh collective punishments were meted out to detainees for each violation of the rules, while “interrogations were accompanied by some of the most violent treatment documented,” Gover said.

Article content

Commission member Pablo de Greiff told reporters he now had evidence of the Russian organizational structure that coordinated and enabled torture in detention centers.

“Furthermore, the Commission now has evidence that detention center leaders or other high-ranking Russian authorities ordered, encouraged, tolerated or took no action to end torture or ill-treatment ” said de Grieff.

Møse said the commission’s investigation also found that violent practices against detainees in Russia had been transferred by Russian security forces and personnel to Russian-run detention centers in areas it occupied in Ukraine.

“Based on this body of evidence, we have concluded that Russian authorities acted in accordance with a coordinated state policy of torturing Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war,” he said. “Therefore, in addition to torturing as a war crime, they also committed torture as a crime against humanity. »

Article content