(Geneva) Ukrainian prisoners are being deliberately deprived of medical care in Russian jails and doctors have even taken part in torture sessions in one of the penitentiaries, a Human Rights Council commission of inquiry revealed on Monday.
The Commission, set up to investigate human rights violations in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, had previously concluded that torture was “systematic” by Russian occupation forces.
But in her oral report to the Council on Monday, she stressed that the vast geographical area and the similarity of the methods used “demonstrate that torture was used as a common and acceptable practice by the Russian authorities, with a sense of impunity.”
But beyond the systematic torture and rape in prison camps or the rape of women in towns and villages occupied by Russian troops, the Commission notes “the absence of any adequate medical assistance for those who desperately needed it” in many detention centres controlled by the Russian authorities.
“In one of these centres, prison doctors even took part in the torture sessions,” said the chairman of the committee, Erik Mose, in his oral report to the Council.
As an example, Mr. Mose cites the testimonies of former Ukrainian prisoners from Olenivka prison in Ukraine.
On July 29, 2022, an explosion in the Olenivka detention center resulted in the death of many Ukrainian prisoners.
The Russians blame the Ukrainians for bombing the prison. The Ukrainians, their Western allies and many analysts believe that the Russians were behind the explosion.
According to witnesses, “no immediate medical assistance was provided to dozens of other people who suffered life-threatening injuries,” Mose said.
Only military doctors, themselves prisoners, attempted to provide assistance to the wounded, the report emphasizes.
“They saw many people die that night, while the leaders of the Olenivka settlement stood by and watched,” Mr Mose accuses.
The physical and psychological after-effects are profound and the mental health needs are enormous, according to the testimonies collected by the Commission.
“I was haunted by the fear of being imprisoned again. I am physically at home, but I still feel mentally imprisoned by the trauma inflicted on me by the Russians,” said one of the former tortured prisoners.
Many victims expressed “the vital need for justice to be done” and the Commission’s president stressed the need to continue collecting evidence.
He regretted that the financial crisis facing the UN had “severely affected the staffing of the Commission’s secretariat and its ability to travel.”