UN receiving ‘credible’ information about Ukrainian troops torturing Russian prisoners, official says

Authored by thehill.com and submitted by ikonik7

Matilda Bogner, the head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said there is “credible” information regarding the mistreatment of Russian prisoners by Ukrainian troops during the war.

“We have received credible information of torture, ill-treatment and incommunicado detention by Ukrainian Armed Forces of prisoners of war belonging to the Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups,” Bogner said on Tuesday.

The “inhumane treatment” is occurring among captured Ukrainian and Russian soldiers as they are “being coerced to make statements, apologies and confessions, and other forms of humiliation.”

“This violates fundamental rules of international humanitarian law. Ukraine and Russia must promptly and effectively investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of war,” Bogner said. “They must also effectively control and instruct their forces to stop any further violations from occurring.”

Ukraine and Russia have conducted multiple prisoner swaps throughout the war, with dozens of Ukrainians and Russians returned to their forces as a result.

The comments came at a press conference that was focused on the “plight of civilians in Ukraine.”

The presser accused Russia of multiple war crimes, including targeting civilians, raping women and forcing civilians to leave Ukraine and go to Russia.

Bogner says the U.N. has found at least 204 cases in which Ukrainians, overwhelmingly men, have been taken by Russian forces to Belarus before arriving at Russia for pre-detention trials.

“The best way to end the violations that we have been documenting will be to end the hostilities. However, while they are ongoing and for as long as they last, parties must in the conduct of operations take constant care to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects and commit to protecting every civilian woman, man and child and those hors de combat that fall under their control,” Bogner said.

Viciuniversum on May 10th, 2022 at 17:08 UTC »

Ok, has anyone actually read the article? I don’t know what the hell is going on at the Hill, I had my doubts about their reputation before reading this article, but after reading this article, I have no doubt that they are straight up pro-Russian propaganda. Let me break it down for you. This is the press release from OHCHR the Hill is referencing: Plight of civilians in Ukraine. Please read it. It focuses on war crimes committed against the Ukrainian population. It talks about indiscriminate killing of civilians. It talks about rapes and gang rapes. It talks about civilians being forcefully transported to Belarus. It talks about personal tragedies of people in some detail. And then towards the end it has this blurb:

We have received credible information of torture, ill-treatment and incommunicado detention by Ukrainian Armed Forces of prisoners of war belonging to the Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups. We continue to see the publication of videos, which show inhumane treatment, including prisoners from both sides being coerced to make statements, apologies and confessions, and other forms of humiliation. This violates fundamental rules of international humanitarian law.

The press release doesn’t go into detail what that information is and doesn’t elaborate on the treatment of soldiers. It’s a rather dry, generalized and vague statement. The main focus is civilian suffering, which comprises something like 90% of the press release. I have no idea how does a Hill reporter reads through the release, gets to the last paragraph and walks away with a headline about “UN receiving ‘credible’ information about Ukrainian troops torturing Russian prisoners” unless they went in looking for that headline. Once again, to make it clear, the UN press release is about civilians and their suffering with some terrible details reported. How a journalist skips past all those details and focuses on a dry generalized statement is beyond me.

HarpoMarks on May 10th, 2022 at 15:55 UTC »

The OHCHR documented on this in 2014, writing: "A man with a mental disability was subject to cruel treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence by 8 to 10 members of the 'Azov' and 'Donbas' (another Ukrainian battalion) battalions in August–September 2014. The victim's health subsequently deteriorated and he was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital." A report from January 2015 stated that a Donetsk Republic supporter was detained and tortured with electricity and waterboarding and struck repeatedly on his genitals, which resulted in his confessing to spying for pro-Russian militants.

https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Countries/UA/Ukraine_14th_HRMMU_Report.pdf

maxxim333 on May 10th, 2022 at 15:49 UTC »

There will be war crimes on both sides, unfortunately. No point in whitewashing it. The crucial difference tho is Russians have a choice. They can just stop this madness and go home. Ukrainians have no choice; nowhere to go.

Edit: I need to clarify that I meant Ukrainians have no choice when it comes to participate in this war, NOT that they don't have a choice of not torturing russians