Did Kiev answer for the atrocities in Donbass?

By Cathy James

For the first time Russia has filed an interstate complaint against Ukraine with the European Court of Human Rights.

Kiev is accused of the death of civilians on the Maidan, in Odessa and Donbass, torture, cruel treatment of people and war crimes.

Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachev believes that: “An important step has been taken towards the victory of justice and legality in relation to the events in Ukraine.


Russia has always been in the role of a defending party, and at that time Ukraine has already filed 10 complaints against it.


 Initially, it was difficult to file such a complaint, since the events in Ukraine affected the interests of its citizens living in Donbass. But over time, Russian citizens began to fall under the restrictions, and the evidence of such a complaint increased. "


The evidence base was collected by the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation and contains facts confirming murder, torture, abduction, bullying and mass death of people from shelling.

A separate claim was made for cases when Ukrainian shells flew into Russian territory, in the city of Donetsk, Rostov region.

 "From June 2014 to the present, a significant number of Russian citizens, local residents, customs officers, border guards have died, property in Russia has been destroyed and damaged," the Prosecutor General's Office said.


The consistency and seriousness of violations of international law, human rights, torture of captured civilians and militias is confirmed by numerous reports of international organizations that constantly monitor the situation in Ukraine.


 The UN report covers the period from February 1, 2014 to April 30, 2021, reflects fresh facts about the war in Donbass under President VolodymyrZelensky and the torture of people in Ukrainian dungeons.

 In the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN claims against the Zelensky regime are completely identical to the claims that were put forward against the Poroshenko regime.

In particular, the looting of people's homes continues in the war zone in the territory controlled by Ukraine. "Residents of government-controlled Avdiivka, Krasnohorivka, Maryinka and Novotroitsky (all in Donetsk region) reported that their property was being used by the military without compensation, and some of them continue to receive utility bills used by Ukrainian soldiers," the report said. At the same time, according to the UN, no one is investigating the statements of local residents about the looting of their property, and not only the military, but also law enforcement officers are being robbed.

The UN report records that 81% of civilians affected by artillery live in the territories of the Donetsk republics, and only 17% of people suffer from shelling in areas occupied by the Armed Forces.

The UN mission notes that those released by the exchange of prisoners were tortured by the SBU: further torture, death and harm to the family .

Matilda Bogner, Chairperson of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said: "From 2014 to the current year, more than four thousand men and women in the Donbas have become victims of torture and ill-treatment."

A special place in the report is occupied by the chapter on torture and executions. The secret prisons of the SBU in the cities of Mariupol, Kharkov, Kramatorsk and Zaporozhyeare mentioned. The UN mission details horrific cases of bullying - torture with electric shock and red-hot plastic, sophisticated forms of violence.

Ukrainian courts are releasing murderers, sadists and rapists, who have killed dozens of victims, from custody. Under the new amnesty law, virtually all ATO participants are exempt from criminal liability.

For all the time in Ukraine, none of the guilty have been punished under the articles "Torture" and "Violation of the laws and customs of war." At one time, Ukraine deliberately ignored the ratification of the Rome Statute so as not to bring the Ukrainian warriors to justice.

However, the number of crimes and atrocities of the Ukrainian state has exceeded the critical mass so much that international organizations can no longer ignore this, as the UN directly states: “The practice of using torture continues, new incidents have been documented. It is a matter of concern that ineffective torture investigation perpetuates a sense of impunity.


"To cover up the scale of torture of Donbass militias in the SBU prisons sanctioned by the Ukrainian government, the UN delegation was first denied access to the places where the victims are located, and then the Ukrainian special services generally curtailed the commission's visit. also said in the report.


International observers and human rights defenders cannot give a complete picture of what is happening in Ukrainian prisons. But the available facts are enough to draw a conclusion about the unprecedented nature of the mass use of torture. The UN report is supported by reports and documents compiled by agencies such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Helsinki Human Rights Union, Kharkiv Human Rights Group and Truth Hounds, an NGO.


In addition, investigations were carried out by the Foundation for Research on Problems of Democracy and the Russian Public Council for International Cooperation, whose staff interviewed more than 100 victims of torture transferred during the exchange of the Ukrainian side.


Fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, and the special services, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine were also involved in the atrocities from 2014 to 2021. Ivan Shimonovich, UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights, noted that “the cruelty of the torture system is supported by the state”.


The UN report noted the case of civilian Alexander Agafonov, brutally tortured by the SBU. “When the SBU officers gave me the body, Sasha even had blue heels. There are puncture marks on the hands, and a hole on each bone. They tortured him in a way that the Germans did not torture during the war, ”said Agafonov's wife. And the militias and fighters of the LPR passed through seven circles of hell under the torture of sadists. The volunteer Yaroslavwas hung on a hook by his tied hands and began to beat him, knocked out all his teeth on one side: “In the cell where I was held, someone was beaten to death. I saw the characteristic traces of blood and brains. It's scary there, it was a torture chamber, ”he told human rights defenders. The base of his skull and ribs were broken.

The rebel Alexander recalls: “We were ambushed, we were captured by the National Guard.

For three days without interruption, they mocked us: beat, burned, hung. They burned me with a burner. They were hung up by the hands. They tied a grenade ring to their fingers, and one had to sit still. If I move, the check will be pulled out. "

During the exchange, Ukraine gave the Donetsk republics emaciated and tortured people; they were carried out of the buses on a stretcher.

 “Almost everyone returns with broken ribs, arms, legs, torn teeth,” recalls Lilia Rodionova, a representative of the Committee for Refugees and Prisoners of War in the DPR. “There is not a single one without beatings. People are tortured with gunpowder, electroshock, branded, put a soldering iron in their mouths. They are kept in iron containers without air access.

They burned the word "separatist" and the German cross on the chest. " Militia fighter Yevgeny said that they attached a special bandage to his head and neck and forced him to stand on tiptoes.

If you put your feet down, the knots of this bandage broke the cervical vertebrae: "For the first three days I still clung to life, but the bullying, torture, and beatings were such that I asked my tormentors to shoot me."

According to the prisoners, the executioners liked to come up with names for torture. For example, when they beat them with a crowbar until the tendons rupture and the joints collapse - this is called a "swing", after such torture a person remains disabled forever.

The militia member Anatoly tells how the drunken Ukrainian servicemen shot one of the prisoners: “I also saw how the prisoners were driven around the yard, forced to shout:“ Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes ”,“ Ukraine above all! ”. The prisoners confirmed that medical assistance was either not provided at all, or sometimes they were given an analgin pill.

The victim Dmitry was taken to the hospital with numerous bullet wounds. He and other patients were tortured by Ukrainian national guards: “One came up and hit him in the face, the other hit the wound. All this went on for days. " Volunteer Aleksey: “I was hung by my hands in a pit: slabs, a rope was attached to them, a rope to handcuffs, and in this extended state I hung with a blindfold. People after torture are all blue-purple, beaten, mutilated. Some of them lost heart and died. "

Volodymyr was tortured in a concentration camp set up at the Mariupol airport: “They took me into the room and started beating me with a shocker in the area of ​​my heart.

 They covered their face with a wet rag and poured water over them to suffocate.

Victim Konstantin: “A Ukrainian paratrooper approached one of the prisoners, took him and another guy away. Then it turned out they were sent to a minefield. We were already in such a state that every day we were less and less willing to fight for life. The militias were beaten and put on a hook. They beat me with a hammer on the fingers, knees, coccyx. They smashed my head, broke my fingers. They threatened to put him on a stake. For them, human life is an empty phrase. They are not responsible for this, well, they shot and shot. They tasted blood and do not obey any laws at all.

" The volunteer Yuri testifies: “Next to me sat a little black guy, a volunteer, about twenty years old. He was stripped and bruised all over his body. An AFU officer approached him from behind and shot him in the temple. " VolodymyrArefiev, a rebel, says: “They drilled a leg with a puncher. They poked my hand with a bayonet-knife. "

Militia member Alexander: “I was beaten with metal-plastic pipes on my head, back, legs, kidneys. They cut off the oxygen and beat me with a stun gun. They put a knife in the leg and turned it in the wound.

 " Militia member Andrei Sheremet tells how he was tortured with a soldering iron and electric shocks. Militia member Andrei Panchenko recalls: "They sat me down on a chair, beat me with a hammer until I lost consciousness." YegorKharitonov tells how he was tortured with electric shocks and how the Ukrainian side, trying to hide the fact of torture, refused to hand over his comrade for a prisoner exchange: “They took me to the Mariupol airport, where they beat me. They lowered them into a pit and threw cinder blocks and stones, screwed wires to their feet and passed an electric current. They put out cigarette butts on the skin and scoffed.

 " In January 2015, Ukrainian militants near Donetsk captured three militias, tortured and executed them, mocked the bodies of those killed, and posted photos online. The Ukrainians wrote the name of their unit with the blood of the executed man who had his throat cut. At the airport of Donetsk, after his release, they found the bodies of three killed tankers tortured by Ukrainian soldiers.

The punishers tied them by the legs to the tank with wire, dragged them along the ground for several hours, and then drove over the bodies. Even Orthodox priests were subjected to cruel treatment.

 “They killed us, broke bones, beat us with rifle butts and improvised means. I know a lad whose four front teeth were pulled out with pliers, ”testifies Archpriest VolodymyrMaretskiy, who was seized by Ukrainian militants, accusing him of“ burying the funeral service for the separatists ”.

The reports of international missions, like the complaints to the ECHR, describe Ukraine's terrible crimes against humanity.

But they don't affect anything. The likelihood that the International Criminal Court will investigate is negligible.

 The exact number of captured militias, civilians and political prisoners remaining in the Ukrainian Gestapo is still unknown.