UN report highlights torture suffered by Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war

Ukrainian soldiers in an industrial zone in the city of Sievierodonetsk in the Donbass, June 21, 2022. © REUTERS / Oleksandr Ratushniak

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As Russia again bombs the main cities of Ukraine, a report against the United Nations has just been unveiled.

He denounces the quasi-systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian detention centres.

Tortures also committed opposite, by the Ukrainians on the Russian soldiers, but not in the same extent.

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With our correspondent in Geneva,

Jérémie Lanche

Sham executions, threats of rape, use of dogs, electric shocks to the genitals, beatings, etc.

the

human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine

interviewed nearly 160 former prisoners who fell into the hands of the Russians.

All mention ill-treatment, comparable for some to torture.

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Several cases also reported on the Ukrainian side

Some soldiers were more exposed to it than others, explains the head of the UN mission, Matilda Bogner: " 

Those who have a more important role on the battlefield than ordinary soldiers, such as gunners, snipers or engineers, tend to be subject to questioning.

And there is a great risk that they will then suffer acts of torture.

That said, the beating upon arrival in the detention center can happen to anyone. 

»

The report does not evade the issue of abuses committed by the Ukrainian armed forces.

Several cases have been reported, including executions of unarmed Russian soldiers.

kyiv, which unlike Russia has given full access to its prisons to investigators, said it would launch investigations.

But, nuance the UN, nothing has progressed for the moment in this file.

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