Five months after Russian forces' retreat from Kherson, we’re still only scratching the surface of their atrocities. Today Human Rights Watch published new research, documenting torture and other abuses in the Ukrainian city during Russian occupation from March to November 2022.
“Russian occupying forces carried out terrifying torture and other abuses against Kherson residents in the torture center on Teploenerhetykiv Street and numerous other detention facilities,” says Yulia Gorbunova, HRW’s senior Ukraine researcher. “Those responsible for these horrific acts should not go unpunished and the victims and their families need to receive redress for their suffering and information about those still missing.”
Victims and their family members told HRW about horrible abuses in the one torture center local residents referred to as a “hole,” as well as another detention center and makeshift facilities at the municipal administration building, a school, and an airport hangar.
Former detainees consistently reported similar forms of abuse, including severe beatings with sticks and rubber batons, electric shocks, threats of death or mutilation, and use of painful stress positions. No adequate medical care was provided to detainees.
Russian guards also humiliated detainees by forcing them to shout pro-Russian slogans, listen to and sing the Russian national anthem and patriotic songs, and applaud the singers, under threat of beatings.
Most relatives interviewed by HRW said they were provided no information about the location of loved ones, which is required by the international law of occupation. Many desperately searched and attempted to deliver packages of food and other essentials without knowing whether they reached the intended recipient.
It is a war crime to willfully mistreat, torture, or kill civilians or captured combatants, to willfully cause great suffering or serious injury, or to unlawfully deport or transfer them.
Those responsible should indeed be arrested and punished.