Resident of Kupiansk tells Security Service of Ukraine about Russian tortures: electric currents and soldering iron

IRYNA BALACHUK – SATURDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2022, 15:49

The Security Service of Ukraine published a testimony of a resident of liberated Kupiansk, who told the law enforcement officers about the Russian tortures he went through.

Source: the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU)

Quote from the SSU: "Everyone who was interrogated by the Russia’s FSB agents, who stayed in occupied Kupiansk, had to go through tortures. During the interrogations, the FSB agents "beat out" of local residents names and addresses of ATO [Anti-terrorist operation in Eastern Ukraine in 2014-2018 - ed.] participants, territorial defense fighters, and people who had a pro-Ukrainian position. People faced threats to be executed on a minefield, and [the occupiers also thratened to] murder their families that remained under occupation."

Details: The resident of Kupiansk, who was illegally imprisoned by the Russian occupiers, said that they put a bag on his head, and during the first interrogation, they had been beating him with "electric current for 40 minutes"; they also shot him "either with a pneumatic or a gas gun…", and beat him up with bats or iron pipes".

He also added that some captives had crosses burned on their bodies with soldering irons.

According to the released man, "there was always a lot of shouting" from the room where the interrogations were conducted.

The conditions of detention of illegally imprisoned Ukrainians were terrible as well: 8 people were simultaneously held in a small cell designed for 2.

The SSU reminded that such actions by the Russian occupiers violate the 1984 UN Convention against Torture, to which the Russian Federation is a party.

Currently, the Security Service is carrying out operational and investigative actions to identify all residents of the liberated territories who suffered from the Russian tortures.

"The Security Service of Ukraine is doing everything possible to identify everyone involved in committing war crimes against the civilian population of Ukraine. Every crime will definitely be punished in international courts," the agency concluded.

Background:

• An illegal "prison" set up by the Russian occupiers has been discovered in the liberated city of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast; the cells were designed for 140 people, but 400 were held there at the same time.
• A mass burial of over 440 bodies was discovered in liberated Izium of Kharkiv Oblast.
• Oleh Kotenko, the Commissioner for the Issues of Persons Missing Under Special Circumstances, reported that the number of victims in Izium may many times exceed the Bucha tragedy.
• Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s Supreme Council Commissioner for Human Rights, reported that the burials of about 20 Ukrainian servicemen with their hands tied behind their backs were found in Izium.

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