This report was written by a non-state organization ‘The Foundation for the Study of Democracy’ and the Russian Public Council for International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy. For the purposes of investigating specific cases of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, experts of the Foundation interviewed the ex-prisoners released by the Ukrainian side, in some cases five or ten minutes after the exchange .
The report written by the Foundation includes the results of interviews with over 100 prisoners released by the Ukrainian side.
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Few cases from this Report:
<...>Michael, a member of the self-defence forces of the
Donetsk People’s Republic, who was taken prisoner not far from the town of
Volnovakha, says, ‘Later on, when I was
transferred to the SBU, more people arrived. They showed the word “sepr” burnt
into their bodies, swastika – into their buttocks and stars – into their backs.
All of the burns were third-degree burns.’
<...>Here is how Andrey, another victim of torture,
describes the use of a torture technique called ‘tumbler’ beating: ‘I was
arrested based on a denunciation just because I stayed in town . The National
Guard and the SBU captured me . They took me to Kramatorsk and tortured me for
three and a half days . They beat me with a maple stick on the elbows and up to
the neck and on the knees . My whole body was blue . They hit me on the
stomach, too, causing internal bleeding . Then they proceeded to the so-called
“tumbler” beating . It is when two men come up to you and hit you on the head
with rifle butts. One of them stands in the front and the other in the back,
then one on the left and the other on the right and finally you are kicked in
the stomach with a boot and you black out . After that I was just lying on the
floor . When I was brought in for medical examination, the doctors that were examining
me, were shocked by what they saw . All that part of my body from the elbows to
the neck and the knees was one big bruise.’<...>
<...>Denis, another victim of torture captured by the
Ukrainian National Guard on 31 July 2014 and handed over to the Azov battalion,
describes the same torture technique: ‘I was blindfolded; they put a cloth on
my face and poured water. I could not see anything. And my hands were handcuffed
behind my back. They were holding my head from behind and poured water over the
cloth that was covering my face. I do not know whether they were pouring water
from a teapot or a bottle…I felt as if I was drowning. Then they brought me to…
and continued doing the same.’
<...>Michael from the self-defence forces says, ‘…I saw a
guy standing waist-deep in a hole in the ground and being buried with a shovel
bucket and then the truck run over him. Two members of the self-defence forces
were sent to a minefield but one of them said, “No, I’d prefer you shot me dead
right here .” Then they started shooting his toes first, then going up all the
way to the groin, every new bullet hole about five centimetres from the
previous one. When the shooter was done with one leg, he proceeded to the other
one. He was shooting an assault rifle.’
<...>Denis, another victim who was arrested by the
Ukrainian National Guard on 31 July 2014 and given over to the Azov battalion,
says, ‘They threw people into a pit full of dead bodies. Bodies of the people
they had executed by shooting. Then they threw us into that pit; it had a
specific smell. I felt as if I had been executed, too.’
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