"You do not exist"

Human rights activists accuse both sides of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine as torture

The human rights organizations of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch claim that torture and illegal detentions used both sides of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. On July 21, organizations presented a joint report entitled "You do not exist" about a violation of human rights in a conflict region.

Human rights activists became aware of nine cases when the Ukrainian authorities "arbitrarily and for a long time held civilians in custody in unofficial prisons. They also indicate several cases of “violent disappearance”, when the authorities did not recognize the fact of detention and did not inform relatives about the fate of a person.

According to the authors of the report, detained and "disappeared" secretly held by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). In the stories of victims, it is claimed that they were held from 6 weeks to 15 months in the Buildings of the SBU in Kharkov, Kramatorsk, Rosyum and Mariupol, where they were tortured. As a result, there was any case in relation to the detainees, but not a full-fledged trial was carried out-people were released as part of the exchange of prisoners.

The report shows, for example, the history of the Antikiev activist "Artem" (the real name is not disclosed) from Mariupol, who spent 11 days in the basement, where he was tortured. Here is a fragment of his story, which is given by human rights activists:

I twitched so that they had to tie me to a wooden staircase, only I broke it in cramps

"On the third day ... They dragged two bare wires and stained the current to my stomach. I was jerking off so that they had to tie me to the wooden staircase, only I broke it in convulsions. Then they turned me over and put the wires to my back. After I was cut down several times, they pulled my pants and wires to me-to a causal place ... They all wanted to know about some kind of pistol, but I said that I said that in The lives of weapons did not hold in his hands.

The report claims that Artem spent 11 months in prison, it was exchanged in February 2016.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch turned to the SBU for clarification, the SBU denied everything. At the same time, human rights activists claim that the SBU building in Kharkov is still “secretly detained” up to 16 people.

Civilian is held on both sides as a kind of exchange coin for exchange

Nine cases of "arbitrary detention" of citizens and the application of torture to them, human rights activists recorded from the separatists from the self -proclaimed republics of the "LPR" and "DPR". The report tells six stories in detail. According to the authors, in relation to these people, spying cases in favor of the Ukrainian government, storing weapons and participation in the "pro -Ukrainian" extremist organizations were instituted.

Human rights activists tell the story of the 39-year-old Vadim (the real name is not disclosed), which was detained twice: first by the Ukrainian authorities, and after a while-separatists: on suspicion that he was recruited by the SBU.

At the same time, as the authors of the report say, the information collected is only the “tip of the iceberg”, and they cannot now judge the true scale of the problem. Read more about the report in an interview with Radio Liberty was told by the senior researcher of Human Rights Watch in Europe and Central Asia Tatyana Lokshina :

- Our organizations decided to do this study together in order to one vote in one vote about the problem, which, from our point of view, is extremely relevant in the context of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. In fact, in the framework of the field research, we managed to collect enough information to argue that both sides of the conflict in the east of Ukraine are detained and maintaining civilians in illegal places of detention. Most of the victims that we managed to interview were said that torture or other forms of cruel, humiliating the human dignity of circulation used them. Some were refused medical care in the situation, in particular, when they needed medical care due to damage, due to damage to the health that they caused them directly during the detention. It is very important to emphasize that all these people, and we studied in great detail 18 cases on both sides, were actually completely divorced from the surrounding world during our detention. They had no contacts with relatives, they did not have the opportunity to receive legal assistance, they did not have access to lawyers. That is, this is really a flagrant situation. People are helpless, they cannot find protection.

Persons underwent illegal detention told us that they were held in the territory of the Ukrainian Security Service unit. This, of course, is very serious

-Any particularly egregious cases, could you highlight history?

- Yes, of course. Our report begins with a brief description of one of these 18 cases, and this matter in relation to the other is quite unusual, because we are talking about a person who suffered from both sides. This is a person who, first in the spring of 2015, was detained in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, Ukrainian forces. He spent about a month and a half in custody in illegal places of detention, was subjected to routine torture, he was cauterized by cigarettes, and very cruelly beaten. When, finally, a person was released, with a high probability because the persons holding him suggested that they could not get any valuable information from him, he returned to his home in Donetsk, to the territory not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. But very soon he was captured by the authorities of the self -proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic”, because local security structures suggested that while he was held on the other side, he was recruited by the Ukrainian security service. And further this man was kept in Donetsk for another 2.5 months, in an illegal place of detention, they also beat and subjected to humiliating treatment.

The case of the city of Konstantinovka in the east of Ukraine, on the territory controlled by the authorities, Konstantin Besovynoy, who was detained at home at the end of 2014, employees of the Ukrainian Security Service, is also of great importance. According to him, he illegally held himself in their unit, in the city of Kramatorsk, and then for a very long time, for more than a year, in fact, 15 months in the territory of the Ukrainian Security Service in the city of Kharkov. No bureaucratic trace in this case is observed, that is, its detention was not recorded or fixed. SBU denied the fact of detention, in particular, when meeting with us. And the man disappeared in fact, underwent forcibly disappearance for more than a year. Then, as a result, he was released, and now he is trying to seek justice. Earlier, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International wrote and talked about violations associated with illegal arbitrary detention and brutal treatment of people from the Ukrainian authorities, but it was a question of volunteer battalions - Aydar, Azov, we can call a rather sad “right sector”. In this case, among the cases in which we worked, we recorded three cases, when the persons who were subjected to the illegal extended - I emphasize - the detention, told us that they were held in the territory of the Ukrainian Security Service.

All the evidence that we received is very significant

This, of course, is very serious. It should be noted here that when working on a report, we made a detailed letter to the SBU, in particular, citing details of specific affairs, calling the names of two, presumably affected and asking specific questions about these cases, as well as in principle about the presence of illegal centers of detention in the territory of the SBU units. We were replied to this letter that nothing like this was happening, that the SBU has one place of detention, it is quite official - a temporary detention center in Kyiv, which is registered and where detainees can be up to 10 days. Nothing of the kind was told to us, in the units in Kharkov, in Kramatorsk does not happen. But all the evidence that we received are very significant, they indicate the possible presence of an extremely serious problem, and they, of course, require an immediate effective investigation. We really hope for this, we talked about this at a meeting in the administration of the President of Ukraine, where employees of the Security Service were present, and today at a meeting with the military prosecutor of Ukraine. We were given assurances that, at least, in the case of a non -blessed investigative work will be carried out immediately. But I can only repeat that the SBU denies the presence of such practices.

What we documented was probably the tip of the iceberg

As for the territories that are not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, the self -proclaimed “DPR” and “LPR”, according to the information that we managed to collect, the key actors from the point of view of illegal detentions and cruelty are local ministries of state security, that is, the DPR MGB and the LNR MGB, which, as we were told by quite numerous residents of the region, the most powerful in these territories of the structure, are the structure of the structure. who work outside of any system of retrains and counterweights that "do what they want." Representatives of these ministries delay people and keep them at home. The report, in particular, gives the affairs of two people whom they held for a long time and who were then transferred to the Donetsk pre -trial detention center. One of them is the well -known Donetsk religious scholar Igor Kozlovsky. At the moment, the de facto authorities of the DPR call him a Ukrainian spy and accuse him, in particular, of the fact that he produced weapons. They are trying to exchange it.

- How did you find these people?

- both the organization has worked a lot in the east of Ukraine since the beginning of the armed conflict. Our employees had many business trips to the region, and accordingly, we get information on a regular basis from there. When we jointly decided to do this topic, on the one hand, on the one hand, we already had some appeals from the victims and members of their families, and on the other hand, we spoke with lawyers who work on such cases, interviewed different sources. In total, we documented 18 cases. Of course, these 18 cases cannot give an idea of the scale of the problem. We ourselves are not ready to say how many such cases. But here it is important to note that in the recent, June report of the Office of the Supreme Commissar for Human Rights, the illegal detention of the UN, cruel treatment with the detainees was described as deeply rooted practices. Both this information and other information that we received from various sources give us reason to assume that what we documented was probably the tip of the iceberg.

-How much are such cases yelling for Ukraine or such a violation of human rights-a rather familiar vicious practice?

- If we talk about the violations that we documented in relation to the Ukrainian structures, the Ukrainian authorities, then earlier we received quite a few messages about violations of this type from volunteer battalions. Of course, what we have received now is very significant information that the SBU is engaged in these practices, and we are very disturbing. This is probably important and new, which was said in the report. One of the interviewed by us explained that in the SBU unit in Kharkov, where he and other people were kept illegally, they called them "ghosts", they said: "You do not exist! You are not even a budget line, we feed you from our pockets." Indeed, the situation is egregious! Although the report is not directly focused on the problem of exchanging prisoners, this is not our mandate, but judging by the information that we collected, there is reason to believe that civilians hold on both sides as a kind of exchange coin for exchange. And this is also very alarming, and here it must be emphasized that hostages, if there is a practice of "hostage", as well as cases we documented, are a war crime.

“Are you sending this report somewhere?” And what reaction do you expect?

- Here, in Ukraine, we already had meetings in the presidential administration, including SBU employees and the military prosecutor's office. We hope that they will take the report seriously. As for the “DPR” and “LPR”, the report contains detailed recommendations for the authorities of the self -proclaimed republics and, in fact, to the Russian Federation, as a state that is obviously influenced by them. And we hope that the report will receive wide lighting in Russia and thus motivates the Russian authorities to use this influence properly and do everything possible so that such practices stop there, ”concludes Tatyana Lokshina.

The report “You do not exist” is based on: arbitrary detentions, violent disappearance and torture in the east of Ukraine “were 40 interviews with injured people, their relatives and lawyers. The report describes cases dating back to 2015 and the first half of 2016.