08/05/2022 11:55

Commissioner: The occupiers are committing war crimes against Ukrainian citizens taken prisoner

Shocking testimonies continue to be received from Ukrainian citizens who managed to escape from the captivity of the occupiers and who witnessed the war crimes of pro-Russian mercenaries.

One of the representatives of the village authorities was captured by the occupiers in early March in a village near Mariupol, where filtration measures were in full swing.

Initially, the occupiers marked houses and fences with the letter Z, and then began to call residents to the village club.  At the first stage of the filtering, interrogations were conducted by law enforcement officers of the so-called "DPR", who found out whether people had anything to do with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the police.  In the second stage, the inquiry was conducted by representatives of the so-called "DPR".

After "filtering", with a bag on his head and his hands wrapped in scotch tape, the man was sent in an unknown direction.  During the 5-hour interrogation, he was beaten and put on a chair to which an electric current was applied.  And the next day he was transferred to the Donetsk pre-trial detention center, where he spent two weeks.  Then - 30 days in one of the correctional colonies near Donetsk.

The men were kept in overcrowded cells with complete unsanitary conditions.  There were only six beds for 20-25 people.  The occupiers gave them five plates of food each.

By taking civilians hostage, the russian occupiers are violating international humanitarian law, including Article 34 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949, which explicitly prohibits the unjustified detention of civilian hostages.

I appeal to the UN Commission for Investigation Human Rights Violations during the Russian military invasion of Ukraine to take into account these facts of war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine by the occupying state.