Ukraine: UN documents hundreds of arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances

Published on: 09/09/2022 – 14:28 After a thorough investigation, the UN has identified more than 400 victims of arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances in the territory occupied by Russia and affiliated armed groups. As for the Ukrainian forces, they are accused of being behind some fifty arbitrary arrests and cases of torture of prisoners. The UN said Friday (September 9) it had documented more than four hundred arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances by Russian forces in Ukraine, as well as 51 arbitrary arrests by Ukrainian forces. Since the start of the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin , the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights collects information on the violations of which prisoners of war are victims. Torture, if proven in court, “would be a war crime”, affirmed Matilda Bogner, who heads the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, during a videoconference from Odessa.Moscow has not authorized the UN visit to prisoners of warTo date, the UN has established that at least 416 people were victims of arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances in the territory occupied by Russia or in areas controlled by the Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups at the time of the events. Among them, 16 were found dead and 166 were released. The mission also identified 51 arbitrary arrests and 30 other cases that could be similar to enforced disappearances perpetrated by the Ukrainian forces. The UN obtained “access without obstruction” to places of detention controlled by kyiv, while Moscow has not allowed access to prisoners of war held on its territory or in areas controlled by pro-Russian forces, Matilda Bogner said. “This situation is all the more worrying since we have documented that prisoners of war in the hands of “the Russian armed forces or affiliated armed groups” have suffered acts of torture and ill-treatment and that, in some places of detention, they do not have food, water, health care and adequate sanitation,” she added. e pregnant and detained by Moscow and affiliated armed groups. The mission also received information on the disastrous situation in Olenivka prison, in separatist territory, where many Ukrainian prisoners of war are said to be suffering from infectious diseases, including hepatitis A and tuberculosis.Cases of Ukrainian torture and ill-treatmentIn the territory controlled by Ukraine, the UN has also identified cases of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of war – generally during their capture, during the first interrogations or their transportation to internment camps. The UN was able to visit a prisoner of war camp in unoccupied Ukraine but most “continue to be held in penitentiary establishments, in violation of the rule that prisoners of war must not be interned in a regime of strict confinement”, lamented Matilda Bogner. The mission must publish a report on September 27 detail on the consequences of the Russian invasion on human rights in Ukraine. With AFP