Kherson prisoners subjected to torture, including genital electrocution
Nearly half of the Ukrainians held by Russian troops in detention centers in Kherson encountered widespread torture and sexual violence — with some even being subjected to genital electrocution, war crime investigators said in a report released Wednesday.
The report analyzed 320 cases of imprisonment across 35 detention centers in Kherson and found at least 43% of victims “explicitly mentioned practices of torture in the detention centers, citing sexual violence as a common tactic imposed on them by Russian guards.”
The report was compiled by a Mobile Justice Team formed by international human rights firm Global Rights Compliance, which has supported Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) with its war crimes investigations since the Kherson region was reclaimed from Russia in November.
Nearly half of the Ukrainians held by Russian troops in detention centers in Kherson encountered widespread torture and sexual violence, according to a new report. REUTERS
Both male and female prisoners experienced practices of torture in the detention centers, including suffocation, waterboarding, beatings and threats of rape by Russian soldiers and collaborators.
At least 36 people witnessed or were subjected to genital electrocution, the report found.
Other victims mentioned threats of genital mutilation, and at least one said they were forced to witness the rape of another prisoner, the report said.
The most common form of torture was suffocation, waterboarding, beatings and threats of rape, the report found. ZUMAPRESS.com
“The true scale of Russia’s war crimes remains unknown,” Anna Mykytenko, senior legal adviser at Global Rights Compliance, told Reuters.
“But what we can say for certain is that the psychological consequences of these cruel crimes on Ukrainian people will be engrained in their minds for years to come.”
The report found that the detainees most likely to experience such torture were military personnel, law enforcement officials, volunteers, activists, community leaders, medical workers and teachers.
Both male and female prisoners experienced practices of torture in the detention centers. ZUMAPRESS.com
The most common torture techniques were suffocation, waterboarding, severe beatings and threats of rape, the report said.
What was learned in the investigation leading up to the report shows a larger, inherently criminal plan on the part of the Kremlin, according to Wayne Jordash, managing partner of Global Rights Compliance and Mobile Justice Team Lead.
“This is yet more evidence of genocidal tactics baked into Putin’s plan to extinguish Ukrainian identity in the areas under Russian occupation,” Jordash said.
At least 36 people witnessed or were subjected to genital electrocution, the report found. REUTERS
“Many more torture centers certainly exist around Ukraine in occupied areas and are being funded by Putin’s credit card.”
With Post wires
Source: New York Post
