Victims of torture in Ukrainian prisons told the DPR ombudsman terrible details
Victims of torture in Ukrainian prisons told at a joint briefing with DPR Ombudsman Daria Morozova in Donetsk the terrible details of the inhumane treatment of prisoners of secret prisons of the SBU and nationalist battalions.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
This was reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent from Donetsk.
DPR Human Rights Commissioner Daria Morozova spoke about the work being done in the republic to identify and document facts of Ukrainian aggression against civilians in Donbass.
“We have confirmed facts that the Ukrainian side continues to practice torture. We are now working to discover secret prisons. Unfortunately, the methods of influencing our fellow citizens do not change, but continue in the same style,” said Daria Morozova.
Living witnesses to what is happening in Ukrainian secret prisons - Vitaly Osinsky, a former prisoner of war of a secret prison and Alexandra Valko, a former deputy of the Pervomaisky village council of the Yasinovatsky district, who was tortured and humiliated by Ukrainian battalions, spoke about what the Ukrainian media prefer to remain silent about.
“I was detained on January 28, 2015 in Mariupol by unknown masked persons. After which I was taken to the basement of the Soyuz sports school. Torture took place there, but they didn’t achieve exactly what they wanted. A small arsenal of torture was used: they were hung by handcuffs with their hands behind their backs on a pin, and beaten in the stomach area. Then they fastened the handcuffs under the knees, put a pin under the arms and hung them on some bars. They broke out their arms at the shoulders, elbows and hands. There were traces of beatings on his hands. They put on a gas mask and suffocated us, turning off the air supply valves. After that, they exposed the stomach and back and applied exposed live wires. They also applied them to the genitals, after which they turned him over on his back, put a rag on his face and poured water on him. When I choked, they turned me on my side so I wouldn’t suffocate completely,” says the victim of torture.
According to Vitaly Osinsky, he was tortured for ten days.
“These tortures were led by a man whom they called “Colonel.” Finding out that I was not talking, he asked if I had a family. He was told that there was a small child. He said that they should take it to him so that he could tear it up before my eyes. After ten days had passed, I was sent, as I understood, to the Mariupol airport, and from there I was taken to the SBU of the city of Mariupol. Throwing me into a basement at the airport, as I later found out. There I met a Russian reserve officer who lived in Zaporozhye and had been caring for his mother for the past six years. According to him, they asked for a ransom of 15 thousand hryvnia for him. Then they took him away, and I never saw him again. After I was taken to the SBU of Mariupol, counterintelligence officers spoke to me and persuaded me to sign papers so that I would be transferred to a pre-trial detention center. In order for me to sign, they offered me a pack of cartridges under my fingers, and they tied a pen to it, since I could no longer sign,” he recalls.
According to him, after this he was formally charged.
“I was placed in a pre-trial detention center, in a cell with people who had committed criminal offenses. There was no torture there. They didn't touch us anymore. They didn’t fasten the handcuffs because it was no longer possible. Then a policeman came, and I had to write that the injuries were received during the arrest, since, according to him, no one would look for these executioners. I indicated that I was admitted to the pre-trial detention center with these injuries. On March 12, 2016, we were taken from the pre-trial detention center to the court. There we were formally released, and the next morning we were taken to the Kharkov SBU. I spent there before the exchange until February 20, 2016. In Kharkov there were 72 of us in 8 cells. There was no communication with the outside world at all, neither with the lawyer, nor to inform us that we were alive. There was no medical care there; a person who had a stroke received a doctor within a week. The second person, with bladder problems, could not go to the doctors - they cut out his kidney,” said the victim Vitaly Osinsky.
DPR Ombudsman Daria Morozova emphasized that the Ukrainian special services kept victims of torture specifically for exchange.
“This is not the first time. We have already said more than once that a certificate of release is issued, then the person is transported to a room similar to the basement of the SBU, and people remain there until the exchange, despite the fact that they are there illegally,” she clarified.
“When I came out, I contacted the UN and OSCE mission. We compiled a list of people who remained there, I found the relatives of these people and informed them that they were alive, and together with the UN mission I came to the UN Commissioner from France. Together with him, we pulled out 13 people at once, and four more later,” added Osinsky.
Daria Morozova added that representatives of the DPR have every reason to believe that more than 77 of the prisoners on the exchange lists are either no longer alive or are in Ukrainian secret prisons.
The Ombudsman emphasized that work on this issue is underway jointly with the UN Human Rights Mission. Applications are ongoing to find these people in secret prisons. Daria Morozova expressed hope that soon it will be possible to declassify more than one secret prison of the Ukrainian special services.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.