GENEVA – The United Nations human rights watchdog said on Friday that Russia has denied it access to detention sites where it has found growing evidence of the torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war. could be a war crime.
Inmates arriving at some detention sites face a “welcome process” in which they are forced to run between two lines of guards who brutally beat them as they passed, Matilda Bogner says, Head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. Bogner said some inmates were targeted for further beatings.
Torture and mistreatment of prisoners, if proven, “could become a war crime,” she said, speaking via video link from Odesa, Ukraine.
In some Russian detention sites, conditions seriously threaten the health of inmates, Bogner said, adding that there have been reports of inadequate food, water or sanitation. She specifically cited a penal colony at Olenivka, in Russian-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, where she said there was report prisoners struggled with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis A.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov declined to comment on the UN statement, saying he was not fully informed about interactions between the UN team and Russian authorities on the ground. Field, according to a Reuters report.
At least 416 people have been arbitrarily detained or forcibly disappeared in territory controlled by Russian forces since the invasion in February, according to the monitoring mission. of the United Nations.
Ukrainian forces have also tortured prisoners, often at the time of their arrest, during initial interrogation or during their transportation to the camps, Bogner said, adding that these actions also have could be a war crime. Ukrainian authorities have given UN monitors full access to detention centers around the country, where they have visited 160 prisoners of war, she said. But with the exception of one camp that appears to meet international standards, she said most prisoners are held in cells, violating rules that say prisoners should not be held in tight conditions. tight.
Ms. Bogner also expressed concern about the serious deterioration of the situation in Crimea, where she reported tighter restrictions on freedom of expression and increased cases of torture, ill-treatment and forced death. arbitrary detention and detention.
United Nations monitors have documented the prosecution of more than 80 people in the Russian-administered peninsula for “public actions aimed at discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation”, Ms. Bogner speak. Authorities there, she said, have imposed sanctions on teachers who do not support the war, arresting and prosecuting human rights activists and threatening lawyers.
