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Both Russia and Ukraine have tortured prisoners of war in a nine-month conflict that began after Russia invaded in February, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said. File Pool photo by John Minchillo/UPI | license photo
November 15 (UPI) — Russia and Ukraine The countries have tortured prisoners of war during the nine-month conflict that began after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, according to the latest findings by United Nations investigators.
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Published findings Abuse was widespread on both sides of the war on Tuesday, with prisoners reporting beatings, electric shocks, intimidation and threats.
The findings, based on interviews with Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war, prompted the office to call on Kyiv and Moscow to “investigate and prosecute all allegations of violations.”
In total, OHCHR interviewed 159 prisoners of war held in the Russian Federation and 175 in Ukraine. While Ukraine allowed investigators access to Russian prisoners of war while in custody, Russia denied access, forcing investigators to gather information after the Ukrainian prisoners were released.
“The vast majority of people we interviewed told us that during their detention, they torture and ill-treatmentsaid Matilda Bogner, head of the United Nations human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, speaking in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“Torture and ill-treatment are not only used to coerce prisoners of war to give military information or make statements about alleged crimes. Interviewees told us that they are used daily to intimidate and humiliate them,” she said, adding that prisoners were held in Unsanitary, overcrowded cells, and rotting food.
“More than 80 percent of the former Ukrainian prisoners of war interviewed by OHCHR complained of insufficient quantity or poor quality of food. They said, for example, that they were given undercooked bread, meals with rotten ingredients, or porridge Or spaghetti with sand or little rocks in it. It,” Bogner added, of a man who said, “‘I’m hungry all the time. All my thoughts, even my family, are about food.'”
Bogner said her team was working to verify reports that nine Ukrainian prisoners of war had died since mid-April during the so-called containment process at a Russian detention center, where prisoners were beaten, attacked by dogs, naked and threatened.
In July, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky Blame Russia”mass murder” in an attack that destroyed a prison in the Donbas region and killed nearly 60 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
In Ukraine, investigators also documented cases of Russian prisoners of war being tortured by Ukrainian armed forces, including beatings, stabbings, electric shocks and, in some cases, summary executions, Bogner said.
“There are allegations, credible allegations of summary executions by the Ukrainian Armed Forces“Bogner said. “These happened early in the conflict. Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation into the allegations. But so far, we haven’t seen the investigation progress. “
Both Kyiv and Moscow are parties to the Geneva Conventions, which determine the laws of war, including the treatment of prisoners of war.
“Accountability is key to deter and prevent further violations. Both parties to an armed conflict have a clear legal obligation to investigate and prosecute all allegations,” Bogner said. “Both parties must do so fairly, expeditiously and impartially.”
While Russia denies mistreating prisoners of war, Kyiv has pledged to investigate violations and take legal action.
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