Batons and an incandescent lamp: new Russian torture chambers found in Kherson

Law enforcement officers have found new torture chambers in recently liberated Kherson: in total there are known to be at least four places where Ukrainians were detained. The Russian occupiers set them up in a temporary detention centre, a pre-trial detention centre, and a local police department.

Source: press service of the Prosecutor General's Office 

Details: The investigation found that during the occupation of Kherson, the Russian military and representatives of the Russian secret services set up pseudo-law enforcement agencies in the captured buildings of a temporary detention centre, a pre-trial detention centre and one of the local police departments in Kherson.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers found ID cards used by representatives of the occupation police, shift schedules, and signs they had stuck up that read "Duty unit", "Investigation office" and "Criminal investigation". Other items seized included parts of rubber batons, a wooden bat, a machine used by the occupiers to electrocute civilians, an incandescent lamp, and bullets from the walls.

The Prosecutor's Office says various methods of torture and physical and psychological violence were used on people in the cells and basements. In the course of their investigation, assisted by a victim, Ukrainian law enforcement officers found part of a metal-plastic pipe, handcuffs and other items in the basement of one of the office buildings where the occupiers had also set up a torture chamber.

The investigation is identifying all the victims and establishing the locations of other torture chambers. A pre-trial investigation is ongoing as part of a criminal case with respect to the violation of the laws and customs of war (Article 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Previously:

• On 13 November, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that torture chambers set up by the occupiers had been found in the liberated territory of Kherson Oblast. Some of them were located in the premises of local police departments.
• On 16 November, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that a torture chamber where Russian occupiers had interrogated and tortured pro-Ukraine residents of Kherson had been discovered in the course of stabilisation measures in the liberated city.

Background:

• On 11 November, Ukrainian Defence Intelligence reported that Kherson was returning to Ukrainian control and that Ukrainian soldiers were entering the city
• On 12 November, the legitimate Oblast and City Military Administrations, as well as the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the National Police of Ukraine, began to work in liberated Kherson.
• In the meantime, a curfew has been imposed in Kherson from 17:00 to 08:00. 

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