Nearly half of Ukrainian prisoners subjected to torture and sexual violence in Kherson camps, rights group reveals, with crimes ‘reminiscent of genocide’

Nearly half of Ukrainian prisoners held in camps in Kherson have been victims of torture and sexual violence, according to a new study by an international human rights law firm.

Analysis of cases in more than 35 identified detention centers revealed that suffocation, waterboarding, electrocution, beatings and threats of rape are widespread techniques imposed by Russian guards in the occupied region.

Global Rights Compliance’s Mobile Justice Team reviewed the stories of 320 people detained in Kherson with the Ukrainian Office of the Attorney General (OPG), with 43% reporting experiences of torture while in detention.

Those detained at the centers included volunteers, activists, medical leaders, teachers, community leaders, law enforcement and military personnel.

Wayne Jordash KC, Managing Partner and co-founder of Global Rights Compliance, said: “The torture and sexual assault tactics uncovered by the prosecution in Kherson detention centers suggest that Putin’s plan to erase Ukrainian identity is a series of crimes includes those that are suggestive. of genocide.

“The pattern we are observing is certainly consistent with a cynical and calculated plan to humiliate and terrorize millions of Ukrainian citizens in order to subject them to the dictates of the Kremlin.”

Cobwebs smoky with soot in the basement of the detention camp on Pylypa Orlyka str.

The Mobile Justice Team, part of the UK, EU and US sponsored Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA), was established by international human rights law firm and foundation, Global Rights ComplianceApril 2022.

It is headed by world renowned British lawyer, Wayne Jordash KC. The team’s CRSV work is mainly funded by the EU.

Their disturbing discovery revealed new evidence of horrific sexual crimes committed by Russian soldiers at the centers, including genital electrocutions, threats of genital mutilation and being forced to witness the rape of another detainee with a foreign object.

A Russian soldier reportedly ordered the genital electrocution of 17 separate victims in the detention centers.

Anna Mykytenko, Senior Legal Adviser and Ukraine Country Manager, Global Rights Compliance, told MailOnline: “What we noticed during our investigation is that sexual assault has been – and continues to be – used by Russian forces to humiliate and humiliate prisoners, among other goals.’

She added: “There is no doubt that the victims of these crimes will bear long-lasting psychological scars after their imprisonment in these detention centers.”

Evidence of the atrocities has mounted in recent months, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Russia of war crimes in Kherson as early as November 2022.

Mass graves have been found all over Ukraine since the start of the war in February last year.

Global Rights Compliance said the reported “patterns” of rape and other sexual crimes against occupied people across Ukraine could indicate a “premeditated plan at the systemic level.”

Mykytenko said: “The true extent of Russia’s war crimes remains unknown, but what we can say with certainty is that the psychological impact of these brutal crimes on the Ukrainian people will remain etched in their memory for years to come.

“What we are seeing in Kherson is just the tip of the iceberg in Putin’s barbaric plan to wipe out an entire population. Justice will be served for the Ukrainian survivors as we continue our mission to identify and hold perpetrators accountable.

“Impunity is not an option.”

The group said the “hunt” for the perpetrators is “in full swing.”

Since the liberation of much of Kherson Oblast in October 2022, the investigation has focused on the city and the large number of Ukrainian citizens held and allegedly mistreated in its detention centers during the Russian occupation.

The law firm has also analyzed the first evidence collected by the OPG since March 2022, Mykytenko told MailOnline.

This news follows an announcement from Global Rights Compliance in February 2023, which revealed evidence exposing financial records directly linking the torture chambers to the Russian state.

A building of a detention center in Kherson where Ukrainians were held

Ukrainian prisoners were forced to write and learn Russia’s national anthem while incarcerated

In April, Ukrainian power plant workers also claimed they had been tortured by Russian invaders after refusing to “help” during the occupation last year.

Employees of the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Russian-occupied Enerhodar told how they were mistreated by invading forces.

An anonymous alleged victim told The Times: ‘I had bruises and blood on my face. I had been beaten on the head and body with a rubber baton…they held a gun with rubber bullets about two feet from my leg and fired.”

Some claimed that their colleagues had been killed by Russian forces during the occupation.

11,000 workers were working at the Zaporizhzhia power station when Russian troops reclaimed the occupation on February 24, 2022, the first day of the war.

Individual, Russian invaders last year forced 367 people into a school basement in occupied Yahidne, north of Kiev, of 200 square meters.

The villagers, including an 18-month-old baby, were held there for almost a month and 11 of them died.

One of the survivors said that some people died from lack of oxygen in the small basement.

Wayne Jordash KC told MailOnline at the time, “There can be no doubt that the Russian forces were working on a plan.

At the very least, Russia intended to destroy Ukraine as a nation through a concerted campaign of international crimes.

More than 450 civilians died untimely and hundreds more were missing, tortured, sexually assaulted or injured during the almost month-long occupation at the hands of this brute force.

The Russian plan for Bucha is now crystal clear: they wanted to eliminate any semblance of Ukrainian resistance and identity in the city, and they were willing to stop at nothing – including terrorism, torture and indiscriminate killing of civilians – to achieve this. goal.’

Ukrainian prosecutors said in May they had recorded 85,000 Russian war crimes since the war began.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March for war crimes.

The ICC can only deal with a case if the country where the crime was committed is a party to the Rome Statute – which enshrines international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression – or if the country of the perpetrator origin is a party to the articles of association.

As it stands, Ukraine has signed the 1998 treaty, but has not yet ratified it.

Russia was a signatory, but withdrew its signature in 2016.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky exits the basement of a school in the village of Yahidne, Chernihiv region, where all residents were imprisoned during the Russian occupation

Halyna Tolochina stands in front of a wall in Yahidne village with the names of people who died in a school basement as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues.

Founded in 2013, Global Rights Compliance is an international human rights law firm and foundation specializing in international humanitarian, international criminal, corporate and human rights law.

Global Rights Compliance’s mission is to provide justice through the innovative application of international law.

The Mobile Justice Team provides specialized first-line operational expertise support to the Office of the Attorney General (OPG) in Ukraine.

The team consists of a mix of Ukrainian and foreign expert detectives and lawyers.