The information collected by the Foundation forDemocracy Studies gives grounds to believe that the Ukrainian armed forces
(VSU), the National Guard and other military units of the Ministry of the
Interior of Ukraine, as well as the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
systematically and on purpose violate Article 3 of the European Convention on
Human Rights that reads, ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.’
The extent to which torture is being used and the fact
that this is done systematically prove that torture is an intentional strategy
of the said institutions, authorized by their leadership.
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Ukrainian citizen Alexander
Agafonov, tortured to death by SBU officers in Izyum on 14 November 2014.
Yana, victim’s wife on SBU
officials:
‘They have beaten him to death
simply. When they came – they took him away to torture him. When they brought
his body back – the heels were blue, the feet were blue. He’s got some traces
of punctures on his hands… I don’t know… what they did to him, punctured him or
drove the needles under his nails – there were holes on his hands. Each bone
has a hole in it. They tortured him like… when there was a real war no one has
tortured people the way they tortured him.’
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Link to the original Report:
<…>Here is, for
example, an account by one of the torture victims, Robert Aniskin, ‘I had not
taken part in the military actions and I had not enrolled in the self-defense
forces, nor had I stood guard at a checkpoint .It was the Azov battalion that
arrested me .They beat me with rifle butts during the arrest .Then they
questioned me using electro-shock devices and beating me right and left .After
that I was taken to the Mariupol SBU where, with a plastic bag tied over my
head and hands tied behind my back, I was thrown into the basement .I stayed
that way for over 24 hours .Then they put another bag over my head and cut it
so I could breathe and began the interrogation .I was thrown to the floor and 3
or 4 men kicked and beat with brass knuckles all over the body.
<…>Andrey Runov: ‘During
the night 23–24 November I was arrested at my home by the Aidar battalion .We
were taken to the airport of Mariupol .The beating and torture there were so
severe that we kept blacking out .They would beat us on the heels, ribs and
head .They said they were going to break our legs, threatened to cut off our
ears and gouge our eyes out .My friend got his insides beaten up and skull
fractured; he was paralyzed as a result.’
<…> Many of the
torture victims report marathon beatings inflicted by the Ukrainian armed
forces and security forces. Here is for example an account by German Mandrikov,
‘I am just a civilian, I had not
participated in the military actions but the SBU investigators forced me to incriminate
myself through torture. In early October I went to see my mother and was
arrested by unknown men .They took me to the airport of Mariupol where for
three days in a row I suffered beastly torture .They used both psychological
and physical abuse: they gave me electric shock, suffocated me with a plastic
bag, beat on the feet with a tire iron, poured freezing water on me, etc .The
torturers had an Azov insignia on their sleeves. They threatened to rape my
mother and bride .I could not bear the torment any longer and signed some
documents without even reading them.’
<…> A self-defense
fighter Elvin Soidov says, ‘I was tortured for 24 days: they would poke me, hit
me with a hammer, ropes and water hoses .On the 25th day I was taken
to the SBU quarters in Mariupol and there the beating continued.’
Read the Report.
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