This is a testimony as rare as it is powerful. A Ukrainian fixer, who assisted as a guide and interpreter Radio France teams in late February and early March in Ukraine, was abducted and tortured for nine days by the Russian army. Radio France had alerted Reporters Without Borders of his disappearance on March 8, as well as the French authorities.
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Nikita (his first name has been changed to ensure its security), aged 32, is a fixer: he is one of those local guides who are essential to the work of foreign journalists in regions at risk. He was abducted on March 5 by Russian forces. Detained for nine days, he tells franceinfo about the machine gunning, electric shocks, beatings with iron bars and mock executions he suffered. His story today resembles that of a miracle.
Like other journalists or media collaborators, his car, duly stamped “press” was taken under deliberate fire by Russian fighters on March 5, while he was trying to reach, alone, a village where his family had taken refuge. . Arrested, he is very violently interrogated: blows rain down. “VSwas especially on the first dayand [le 5 mars]very violent, he says. After the interrogation, a local commander ordered me not to be touched until March 8th. Even though I was tied to a tree, even though I was cold… I was still fed and warmed by a fire.” Tied up in the middle of nature for three days, where the night temperature easily drops to −5°C, Nikita was again interrogated and tortured on March 8.
“They tortured me with electricity in my leg. They asked me all their questions again.”
On March 13, Nikita and two other Ukrainians were finally released: the Russian soldiers finally seemed convinced that they were indeed civilians. But the injuries of one of Nikita’s fellow prisoners are severe. “During the detention, the person was hit hard on the head. He had internal injuries to the skull. He is in the process of being treated abroad“, he underlines.
Today, Nikita, along with her family, is safe somewhere in Ukraine. The 30-year-old, a lawyer by training, regularly interpreting for foreign media since 2013, “like all the fixers in the field of war” took risks “for the freedom to inform”, underlines Radio France in a press release. “Without them, we could not do the essential work of reporting on the ground to inform in times of wars and conflicts”. Radio France expresses its “deep gratitude.”
Reporters Without Borders will now send Nikita’s testimony to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in addition to the two complaints that RSF has already addressed to him, on March 4 and 16.
.@RSF_en reveals this evening the testimony of a Ukrainian fixer with whom the teams of Radio France collaborated during the first days of the Russian offensive in #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/IetjxR4yCd
– Radio France (@radiofrance) March 21, 2022