Investigators at the United Nations accuse Russia of using torture and sexual violence with impunity against Ukrainian citizens and prisoners of war in occupied Ukrainian territories and in the Russian Federation.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine submitted its latest update on the situation in Ukraine on Monday to the U.N. Human Rights Council, which continued a review of its findings during an interactive dialogue on Tuesday.
In his oral presentation, commission chair Erik Mose told the council that men were most of the victims subjected to torture, and that new evidence shows that sexual violence is used as a means of torture “mainly against male victims in detention, and of rapes targeting women in villages under Russian control.”
“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,” Mose said, adding that the latest findings reaffirm previous reports that torture committed by Russian authorities has been “widespread and systematic.”
“Our recent investigations show that Russian authorities have committed torture in Ukrainian regions where they have taken control of territories. This reinforces the finding that torture has been widespread,” Mose said.
The commission has identified several common elements in the use of torture by Russian authorities, “reinforcing its earlier finding that this was systematic.”
It notes that similar forms of torture were practiced in detention centers where detainees from Ukraine have been held in the Russian Federation, as well as in large penitentiary centers in occupied areas of Ukraine.
Another common element emerging from the evidence points toward a coordinated use of personnel from specific services of the Russian Federation “who are involved in torture in all the detention facilities” investigated by the commission.
“A further common feature is the recurrent use of sexual violence as a form of torture in almost all these detention centers,” Mose said.
Russia boycotted the meeting, refusing to respond to the commission’s report as a concerned country. Russia had its supporters, however, several of whom disproved of the report.
Belarus called the commission’s accusations “false and unsubstatiated by facts” and invited specialized national organizations “to study the situation on the ground for themselves.”
Eritrea, Syria and Venezuela echoed these sentiments, as did the representative of North Korea, who described “the Ukraine incident” as one of the big geopolitical crises facing the world today and “a direct product of the confrontation of the West against the Russian Federation.”
Most of the other countries participating in the interactive dialogue condemned Russia’s blatant defiance of the U.N. Charter and international law. They demanded that Russia “cease its illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression,” including the relentless airstrikes against Ukrainian civilians and critical infrastructure.
Michele Taylor, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, thanked the commission for its detailed work in “documenting Russia’s violations of international law in Ukraine.”
“Since Russia’s brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we have seen over and over again credible reports that Russia targets civilian objects in violation of international humanitarian law.
“The effects of Russia’s brutal attacks in Putin’s war of choice are severe,” she said, adding that more must be done “to hold those who commit any such acts accountable and ensure justice for the victims.”
Ukrainians personally involved in Putin’s “war of choice” welcomed the commission’s findings.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, underscored the importance of ensuring justice and accountability for torture, sexual violence and other “atrocities that Russia has brought to Ukraine’s soil” 10 years after Russia invaded Ukraine, and over two years after its full-scale aggression on Ukraine.
“Thousands of Ukrainian captives, including civilians and particularly children, are forcibly detained by Russia in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia in particular,” Kostin said.
“I am grateful to the U.N. Commission of Inquiry for maintaining an investigative focus on the systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian captivity and increasing reports of their summary execution,” which he said “amount to war crimes and potentially other crimes under international law.”
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights, also expressed his gratitude to the commission for its work in preparing evidence for international judicial bodies and paving the way “for bringing the perpetrators” of crimes against his people to justice.
“Unfortunately, due to the unprovoked Russian invasion, Ukraine has become a country where brutal crimes continue to be committed,” including the murder of civilians, deportation of children, executions of prisoners of war and massive missile attacks and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
“I urge you to continue your work despite all the difficulties,” Lubinets said, noting that the documentation of crimes, victims’ testimonies and facts are the basis “for ensuring the proper international justice that Ukraine needs.”
