Nearly half of Ukrainians held in detention centers in Kherson by Russian forces were subjected to widespread torture including sexual violence, according to a new report published Wednesday.
The report, compiled by the Mobile Justice Team, part of the UK, EU and US-sponsored Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA), and was set up by international human rights law firm and foundation, Global Rights Compliance, in April 2022, and is led by world-renowned British Barrister, Wayne Jordash KC. The team’s work is primarily funded by the EU.
The new report reveals analysis of an initial pool of 320 cases of detention in Kherson, across more than 35 identified detention centers.
Involvement of Russian military: Of those victims, both male and female, at least 43% explicitly mentioned practices of torture in the detention centers, citing sexual violence as a common tactic imposed on them by Russian guards, with preliminary results showing military personnel were most likely to experience torture.
One of the authors of the report says those with families in the military were also targeted.
“A lot is just punishment, and in, in addition to punishment for [their family member’s] actual military service, it’s also punishment, it seems for the being a Ukrainian citizen really,” Anna Mykytenko, senior legal adviser and Ukraine country manager for Global Rights Compliance told CNN.
Torture and sexual violence by Russian forces: At least 36 victims from the pool analyzed mentioned the use of electrocution during interrogations, often genital electrocution by Russian guards. Other victims mentioned threats of genital mutilation, and at least one victim was forced to witness the rape of another detainee by a foreign object covered in a condom.
“In relation to men, it’s more the majority of crimes is sexualized torture, and that’s usually torture of genitalia so that’s a form of punishment [for being Ukrainian] and kind of precludes them from having children,” Mykytenko adds.
Plan to plan to extinguish Ukrainian identity: The report adds that suffocation, waterboarding, severe beatings and threats of rape were other techniques commonly used against victims by Russian guards in the Kherson torture chambers, according to the specialist unit. Mykytenko says these patterns of rape and torture point to a Russian intent to eradicate Ukrainian identity.
“There is sort of an intent to destroy or eliminate Ukrainian identity because in some cases, it can be seen that those caught or, sometimes almost hunted for, had Ukrainian flags or other state symbols,” she said.
Barrister Wayne Jordash, managing partner and co-founder of Global Rights Compliance, shared a similar view, saying the sexual violence tactics being uncovered underscore Putin’s plan to extinguish Ukrainian identity and include a range of crimes evocative of genocide.
“At the very least, the pattern that we are observing is consistent with a cynical and calculated plan to humiliate and terrorize millions of Ukrainian citizens in order to subjugate them to the diktat of the Kremlin,” he said in a statement accompanying the report.
Mykytenko does believe some of the patterns seen in Kherson could eventually be considered genocidal, though she acknowledges it is difficult to prove.
Russia has repeatedly denied accusations of torture and human rights abuses in Ukraine despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, investigated, compiled and shared by international human rights and news organizations.
Russian officials have not yet commented on the report.
