BBC: a group of Sri Lankans spoke about torture in Volchansk captured by Russia

Seven Sri Lankans living in Ukraine said that since May they were held captive by the Russian military in Volchansk, where they were beaten, tortured and forced to work. This was reported by the Russian service of the BBC.

Six men (almost all of them in their early 20s) and one 50-year-old woman came from Sri Lanka to Ukraine in search of work and study and lived in Kupyansk, the publication claims. After the city was captured by the Russian military, the Sri Lankans decided to flee to Kharkiv, but at the very first checkpoint they were detained by the Russian military, blindfolded, their hands tied and taken to a machine-tool plant in the city of Volchansk, BBC reports.

As the Sri Lankans said, they were poorly fed there, allowed to use the toilet once a day for several minutes, not allowed to go outside for three months, tortured and beaten. One of the men, according to the publication, pulled out his toenails with pliers.

“They beat me many times with the butt of their pistols. One of them punched me in the stomach, and then I was in pain for two days. Then he demanded money from me,” said one of the Sri Lankans, 35-year-old Tinesh Gogentiran.

They were able to get out of captivity only in early September, when the Russian army retreated from the Kharkov region.

Earlier, Artyom, a resident of Balakliya, also spoke about being tortured with electricity in captivity by the Russian army. “I was forced to pick up two wires. There was a generator there. The faster it spun, the greater the tension. They said: Let go of the wires - you're done. Then they started asking questions. They said that I was lying - and the generator spun faster, so the voltage grew, ”he said. According to him, he heard other prisoners in neighboring cells screaming in pain and horror. According to him, the Russians in the building of the local police turned off the noisy ventilation system. “They turned it off so that everyone could hear people screaming when they were being electrocuted,” Artyom said. - With some prisoners it was done every other day. Even women were tortured.”