Torture part of Russia’s war policy in Ukraine, says UN
Russian missile atack on Ukraine’s northern city of Sumy kills two and injure dozens
Russian armed forces and associated groups systematically use torture in occupied areas of Ukraine, pointing to a “deliberate policy,” a United Nations (UN) expert said on Friday.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, said she had drawn that conclusion following a visit to war-torn Ukraine in September.
“The volume of credible allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or humiliating treatment or punishment (indicate that) torture is an element of Russia’s war policy,” she told the UN Human Rights Council.
“These grievous crimes appear to be neither random nor incidental.”
Speaking to reporters, Edwards said Ukrainian prosecutors had told her there were around 103,000 open cases related to war crimes and crimes against humanity, of which 90 percent were registered as torture cases.
Edwards, who said she had personally examined dozens of cases involving alleged abuse by Russian forces and their allies, said there was clearly “an intent and purpose to carrying out the torture that cannot be described away as aberrant behaviour or ad hoc behaviour.”
In a report following her visit, Edwards found that “torture has been carried out in an organised and systematic manner,” with the same practices allegedly carried out across different occupied regions.
Her findings, she told the council, point “to direct authorisation and a deliberate policy.”
Edwards and other special rapporteurs are independent rights experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the UN.
On Friday, she said reiterated a plea for Moscow to “issue a strong and unequivocal directive that torture is never permissible and that it will be punished.”
Edwards, who has been denied access to Russia, also urged the country to “open investigations into these allegations and allow international monitors into all places of deprivation of liberty and to observe criminal proceedings.”
Turning to the conditions Russian prisoners of war face in Ukrainian custody, she said “sincere efforts were being made by the Ukrainian authorities to treat POWS respecfully.”
Her report did, however, raise concerns about conditions in one penal facility in Lviv, where Ukrainian nationals charged with collaborating with the Russians were being held.
And she said she had received “several allegations of abusive treatment by Ukrainian officials,” mainly in connection with the capture, arrest and transit of prisoners.
“I call on the Ukrainian authorities to investigate such allegations promptly, to reinforce training and disciplinary and other preventive measures, and to guarantee the protection of all legal rights of all complainants and detainees,” she said.
Separately, a Russian missile atack on Ukraine’s northern city of Sumy on Thursday killed two people and injured 26 more, the regional administration said on Friday.
“The premises of the school, the central city hospital, the regional emergency medical care centre, and the water utility were damaged,” it said on Facebook.
On Thursday, following the atack on the region close to the Russian border and front line, the authorities said one person was injured.
They published an updated report on Friday, adding that rescue work was completed. Six wounded remain in hospitals.
Meanwhile, Turkey is expected to emphasise its continued strong support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Istanbul on Friday, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
The Turkish Presidency said Zelensky was to hold talks with President Tayyip Erdogan on the course of the Ukraine-russia war, the Black Sea grain deal and bilateral relations, with the meeting scheduled for 1600 GMT.
Zelenskiy’s office said the agenda included a peace formula aimed at ending the war with Russia, bilateral defence industry cooperation, and the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Moscow.
Kyiv’s Ukrinform state news agency said Zelensky had arrived in Istanbul and would visit a shipyard to see a corvete being built for Ukraine before meeting Erdogan.