kidnapping of civilians
Ukrainians tell of Russian torture camps
07/14/2023, 11:11 am
Russia apparently maintains numerous prison camps in occupied parts of Ukraine and in its own country. Ukrainian civilians tell the AP news agency that they have been kidnapped there and tortured. They would have had to do forced labor not far from the front.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians will be killed, according to a news agency report AP held in prisons by Russia, where they are tortured and forced into slave labor. It is said that there is a system of detention and abuse of civilians in Russia and in the occupied Ukrainian territories. AP said it spoke to 20 former inmates and around a dozen relatives of inmates.
According to the AP, the reasons for the arrests are often succinct. Civilians were arrested, for example, because they had spoken Ukrainian or had been denounced by neighbors. Accusations are rare. If they did, the civilians would be labeled terrorists or people who “oppose military special operations.”
The civilians tell AP about mental abuse, torture and forced labor. Some people have been detained for days or weeks, others have disappeared for over a year. Former prisoners say they were taken from one place to another, sometimes by plane, without explanation. According to the statements, torture is part of everyday life in the camps.
Ex-convicts told AP they experienced “repeated electric shocks, beatings that fracture skulls and ribs, and simulated asphyxiation.” Witnesses say they saw deaths. That coincides with one United Nations report. Accordingly, 77 civilian prisoners were executed, one man died as a result of torture. 91 percent of the prisoners “described torture and mistreatment”.
“They tied my hands and feet”
So does 50-year-old Olena Yahupova. The wife of a Ukrainian soldier was visited and kidnapped at her home by Russian soldiers in October, she tells the AP. The Russians asked her to reveal information about her husband. “They tied my hands and feet to an office chair and hit me on the head with a two-liter water bottle.” A plastic bag was placed over her head and tape was wrapped around her neck. “One person stuck my nose through the bag so I couldn’t breathe in the bag.”
After some time in captivity, Yahupova was taken to a checkpoint near the Ukrainian city of Berdyansk in the Zaporizhia region. Russian soldiers forced them to dig trenches with other Ukrainian civilians. Those who refused were shot. She was able to escape after months of forced labor, she tells the AP. Satellite images show trenches dug at the site Yahupova describes.
According to her own statements, the teacher Viktoriia Andrusha was detained by Russia for six months. She was accused of spreading anti-Russian propaganda in class. She was beaten and tortured, she tells the AP. Her tormentors had repeatedly threatened to kill her. She was finally released through a prisoner exchange.
Construction of further warehouses planned
It is unclear exactly how many camps there are. AP assumes there are at least 40 such prisons in Russia and Belarus, plus 63 camps in the occupied Ukrainian territories. In its report, the United Nations spoke of 37 facilities in Russia and Belarus and 125 in the occupied part of Ukraine.
In addition, Russia apparently plans to build 25 new prison colonies in its own country and six more in Ukraine. That’s according to a January Russian government document seen by AP. Also in May, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing people from Ukraine to be sent to Russia. According to the AP, this has made it easier to deport Ukrainian civilians.
According to Russian human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin, more than 4,000 Ukrainian civilians are being held in violation of international law. The Ukrainian government even assumes that there will be over 10,000 people. Ukraine announced in June that 150 civilians had been released by Russia so far. Russia denies detaining any more civilians.