UN asserts 77 civilian captives were killed by Russia in Ukraine.

 

GENEVA: According to a recent UN report released on Tuesday, during its ongoing conflict with Ukraine, Russia has murdered 77 citizens who were detained in arbitrary custody.

Since the Russian invasion began in February of last year, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded 864 distinct instances of arbitrary arrest by the Russian government. Unsettlingly, several of these incidents had forcible disappearances as well.

The director of the UN mission, Matilda Bogner, stated during a news conference in Geneva that "we documented the summary execution of 77 civilians while they were being detained arbitrarily by the Russian Federation."

72 males and five women were among the victims, while two more male captives perished as a result of torture, brutal confinement conditions, and refusal of medical care.

"Russian armed forces, law enforcement, and penitentiary authorities engaged in widespread torture and ill-treatment of civilian detainees," claimed Bogner.

"Most of those we interviewed said they had been tortured and ill-treated, and in some cases subjected to sexual violence," including rape.

Torture was employed to coerce individuals into confessing to aiding the Ukrainian armed forces, force them to work with the occupiers, or scare anyone who supported the Ukrainian cause.

The results of the research were based on 1,136 interviews with victims, witnesses, and other parties, as well as 274 site inspections and 70 trips to authorised detention facilities managed by Ukrainian authorities.

In total, the study cited over 900 instances of arbitrary imprisonment of civilians, including kids and senior citizens.

According to Bogner, the Russian Federation was responsible for the great bulk of these crimes.

With one exception, Ukraine provided the monitoring team with unrestricted, private access to official detention facilities and prisoners, she claimed, but Russia refused to do so despite demands.

The expedition identified 75 instances of arbitrary detention by Ukrainian security forces, the majority of which included individuals accused of crimes linked to the war.

According to Bogner, a sizable fraction of these incidents also involved forced disappearances, which were mostly committed by the Ukrainian Security Service.

"We found evidence that Ukrainian security personnel tortured or otherwise mistreated more than half of those illegally imprisoned. People were being questioned when this occurred, generally right after an arrest, the witness claimed.

No summary killings of civilian captives by Ukrainian military were seen during the expedition.