Russia has turned the unlawful detention and torture of Ukrainians into one of the tools of its occupation policy. The National Police of Ukraine has identified 159 places of detention in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia. Thousands of civilians and military personnel have passed through this system, and some of them remain in captivity to this day. This was stated by Maksym Tsutskiridze, Acting Head of the National Police of Ukraine.
The places of detention identified by the police include basements, torture chambers, filtration camps, pre-trial detention centres and penal colonies. Investigators are not limiting their work to documenting individual cases of violence. They are also attempting to reconstruct each person's entire trajectory — from the moment of capture to the place where they were held before their release or exchange.
The police have already processed information concerning several thousand civilian hostages who returned from unlawful detention. Around 500 of them have been questioned as victims and witnesses.
Law enforcement officers have identified more than 1,000 people allegedly involved in the unlawful detention and torture of Ukrainians. In total, 120 individuals have already been formally notified of suspicion of crimes committed in the occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia.
Separately, investigators have identified more than 80 people involved in crimes at the Kalinin Penal Colony. Forty-two of them have already been formally notified of suspicion.
Among those suspected is the head of Pre-Trial Detention Centre No. 3 of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in Perm Krai. According to investigators, he organised the torture of Ukrainian civilian detainees. The National Police says that these acts of torture led to the deaths of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna and Yevhen Matveiev, head of the Dniprorudne City Territorial Community.
Ukrainian investigators are seeking to reconstruct the entire chain of responsibility — from those who guarded, escorted and tortured people held unlawfully to the officials who organised the operation of places of detention and issued orders.
The investigation demonstrates that the unlawful imprisonment, transfer and torture of Ukrainians are not a collection of isolated crimes. Rather, they form an organised system involving members of Russian security and law-enforcement structures, representatives of occupation administrations and Ukrainian collaborators.
This system is currently being documented through the testimonies of people who survived unlawful detention, identified places of detention, and evidence concerning specific individuals allegedly involved in these crimes.