Investigators have found new evidence of the “widespread and systematic” torture of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war by the Russian authorities, according to the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
Presenting the preliminary findings of the commission’s third mandate since it was established in March 2022, chairman Erik Møse told the UN Human Rights Council on Monday that it had found evidence of sexual violence used as a form of torture in “almost all” Russian detention centres where Ukrainian prisoners are held, as well as the mass rape of women in Russian-occupied Ukrainian villages.
“The wide geographic spread of locations where torture was committed and the prevalence of shared patterns demonstrate that torture has been used as a common and acceptable practice by Russian authorities, with a sense of impunity”, Møse said.
Victim testimonies demonstrated that high-up authorities often “ordered, tolerated, or took no action” to stop the “brutal treatment” of prisoners, he continued, with many detention facilities failing to provide adequate medical treatment to those requiring it.
Many victims had been left with “grave or irreparable physical harm and trauma” and were struggling to relate to their families and reintegrate into society as a result of their experiences, Møse concluded.
Established just a week after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the commission is mandated by the UN to investigate human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law by Russian forces.
On Monday, UN Special Rapporteur for the Russian Federation Mariana Katzarova told journalists that the human rights situation in Russia had got “much worse” over the past year and that the country was now living in a “state-sponsored system of fear and punishment, including the use of torture with absolute impunity”.
“Human rights defenders, journalists and political figures are persecuted and incarcerated in greater numbers. Anti-war dissent of any kind is criminalised, police violence is condoned, arbitrary detentions and arrests are widespread”, with “no independent institutions left to safeguard the rule of law and access to justice”, Katzarova said.