By: Yifei Mei
Russians have tortured civilians in southern Ukraine. Atrocities committed by the Russian forces have drawn global outrage.
Crimea is a region of Ukraine that Moscow took control of in 2014. The Russian forces also took control of the territory along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov coasts including the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Provinces.
“Russian forces have turned occupied areas of southern Ukraine into an abyss of fear and wild lawlessness,” Yulia Gorbunova said, a senior Ukraine researcher at Humans Rights Watch.
Humans Right Watch is a New York-based nonprofit, it casts a spotlight on south Ukraine, where the Russian occupation forces control information. This weekend, the Human Rights Watch stated in a report that further undermined the public case repeatedly made by Vladmir V. Putin of Russia for the invasion.
There wasn’t an immediate response from Russian authorities about the Human Rights Watch report, but Putin has cast Moscow’s invasion in February as a special military operation to get rid of Nazis in Ukraine. To Russian audience, it appears that the war is a noble mission to get rid of Nazis.
“Torture, inhumane treatment, as well as arbitrary detention and unlawful confinement of civilians, are among the apparent war crimes we have documented.” Gorbunova said that Russian authorities should end the abuse immediately and understand that they will be held accountable.
Human Rights Watch announced that it spoke with 71 people in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. They describe 42 cases of Russian forces holding people incommunicado or people disappearing after being detained.
“People interviewed described being tortured, or witnessing torture, through prolonged beating, and in some cases electric shocks,” the report said. “Injuries included severe burns; cuts; concussions; broken teeth; broken bones; broken ribs; and broken blood vessels” the report added.
The Geneva Conventions allow opposing sides in a war to hold combatants as prisoners of war and intern civilians under certain circumstances if they are deemed a serious threat to the detaining authority. Torture and inhumane treatment are prohibited, Political leaders can be charged with war crimes for abuses committed by their forces.
Kherson Province was the first part of Ukraine that saw civilians protest against Russia’s occupation. Followed by repression, they have carried out series of bombing and have helped Ukraine to reclaim lost territory.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/24/world/europe/russia-torture-ukraine-human-rights-watch.html