About 950 Ukrainian civilians are in Russian captivity - human rights defenders
To date, one hundred places have been identified in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation, where about a thousand Ukrainian civilians are being held.
As Censor.NET informs with reference to Ukrinform, this was reported by representatives of the Media Initiative for Human Rights and NGO "Civilians in Captivity" during the presentation of a map with places of detention of civilians and prisoners of war.
"According to the Ministry of Reintegration, as of the end of February, 950 civilians are in detention facilities. Our list, which we maintain in parallel with the support of the NGO "Civilians in Captivity", contains approximately the same number of people. To what extent the lists coincide, we cannot say, because state information is closed," said MIPL coordinator Tetyana Katrychenko.
According to experts, the work on the map lasted a year. In particular, social networks and websites were monitored to identify people who disappeared during the occupation. At the same time, experts interviewed persons released from captivity. According to the MIPL, 948 civilian hostages have been identified in the TOT and in Russia.
The map shows one hundred places of detention of civilians and military personnel - from Donetsk region and Kherson region to Irkutsk region. Also localized prisons in the de-occupied territory - Kyiv region, Sumy region.
According to Katrychenko, new prisons are discovered almost every day, so their total number can be several hundred, and hostages - up to 15 thousand.
"A large territory of Ukraine is still occupied. Detentions take place there every day, and we discover new places of detention. Therefore, it cannot be said that the current map is a complete picture of places of detention. However, the most important thing is that we were able to talk to witnesses from all these places, to collect and document these testimonies for the law enforcement officers," she stressed.
In her turn, the head of the MIPL's documentation department, Anastasia Panteleeva, noted that police stations, administrative buildings and basements, recreation centers are usually places of detention and torture in the occupied territories. For example, on Arabatskaya Strelka (Kherson region), each of the structures at the recreation center holds from 4 to 10 people. At the same time, part of the people from the occupied left bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson Region were transferred to two pre-trial detention centers in Simferopol.
"MIPL identified 70 Ukrainians who are being held in detention center-2. Our colleagues said on the eve of the New Year that there were 110 Ukrainians there, but the building itself is designed for a larger number of people. And perhaps people from the occupied left bank of Kherson are being transported there," she said she.
According to her, anyone who arouses "suspicion" among Russians can get into such places, in particular during an attempt to evacuate.
