"Returned tortured man had missing part of his brain, rag was sewn in instead," Anastasiia Savova, coordinator of families of captured marines
The aggressor country holds Ukrainian prisoners of war in 42 pre-trial detention centers and penal colonies, where it uses numerous forms of torture, of which starvation and beatings seem the most innocuous. There is information that prisoners who are citizens of the Russian Federation have been resettled from most detention centers and colonies, which means that there is a deliberate policy of physical and mental extermination of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The return to Ukraine of the bodies of those who could not withstand torture was discussed about a year ago. Today, they face the same problems that the Ukrainian side should solve. On the one hand, Ukrainian experts cannot write the truth about the state of the body and torture in captivity in official documents. On the other hand, grief-stricken and waiting relatives have to go to court to have their loved ones recognised as having died in the defence of their homeland.
The solution to both problems would seem to lie on the surface, but in the third year of the great war, Ukrainian officials are not even addressing the issue of the lack of refrigerated trucks.
Censor.NET talks to Anastasiia Savova, a representative of the NGO "Always Faithful" and head of the Association "The Power of the Marine Corps". Waiting for her father to return from captivity, she became a coordinator of families of captured marines and sees the systemic nature of the problem in many examples.
RUSSIA KEEPS THE BODIES OF TORTURED PEOPLE UNTIL THEY START TO ROT. BUT THE SAME THING IS HAPPENING IN UKRAINE DUE TO THE LACK OF REFRIGERATORS
- The fact that the bodies of tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war are being returned to Ukraine from Russian prisons, and there are many such cases, has only recently been widely discussed in public. I personally learned about this not from official sources, but from private reports from volunteers. Now this topic is in the public eye, in particular because of the death of Azov soldier Oleksandr Ishchenko in the Rostov detention centre.
- Yes, they are afraid of this topic because it will open up a new circle of uncomfortable questions. It has happened more than once that relatives of those tortured came to the meetings just to voice their concerns, but they were simply ignored.
- Is it possible to count the number of cases when the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers who could not withstand torture were returned from Russian prisons?
- Over the entire period since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, more than 150 bodies of tortured people have been returned to Ukraine from captivity. However, there are more such situations, as we know from those who have returned from captivity about cases where people were beaten to death and their bodies were not returned.
A package of documents is always accompanied by an official diagnosis and the cause of death, which was given by the Russian side. It is, for example, tuberculosis, coronary heart disease or pneumonia. And we have a lot of questions about this because it turned out that our forensic experts simply repeat them in their conclusions.
There is also the problem that DNA confirmation of the body's identity takes a very long time. The package in which the body arrived may be signed, but relatives are not called for identification, instead conducting a DNA examination. Thus, time is lost. And there are cases when bodies lie in the morgue for six months or a year, so sometimes relatives learn that a soldier was killed in captivity only a year after the body is returned.
- In principle, it was surprising that Russia was returning these bodies. Knowing the way they disregard human rights, international law and the Geneva Convention in particular, it was expected that these bodies would simply be hidden and the dead people would be said to be "missing". Have you ever thought about why they are returning them? It is obvious that Ukraine will use these cases to further demonstrate Russia's crimes.
- Most of the bodies that have been repatriated are those of people whose captivity was confirmed by Russia itself through the International Committee of the Red Cross. However, not everyone is returned, and it is impossible to understand why some are returned and others are not.
In fact, it seems that the Russian side has an algorithm for handling bodies to hide traces of torture and inhumane conditions of detention. For some time, they keep the body until it begins to rot when the traces of many tortures are no longer visible. But why this is happening in Ukraine, when bodies lie for a long time and we cannot identify some of the torture used, is a question.
- Why has this process not been established in the third year of the great war?
- This is primarily due to imperfect legislation. Ukraine was not ready for such challenges. There is a big problem with refrigerated trucks. In many cities of our country, there may be free refrigerated trucks, but they are not powered, because this is an extra cost from the budget. It's just a banal economy, but the families of the victims suffer and the procedure for proving Russia's next crimes - the torture and murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war - suffers.
The second factor is that we have not graduated forensic medicine specialists in the last 5 years, so now we are short of them. At least this is the information we are given by official state bodies. The second internal factor is the salary, which is low and not worthy.
There are people who die because of illness. There are people who die on the battlefield. There are people who are killed in captivity. And the bodies of all of them are kept together - so the system cannot withstand the load. But I don't believe that they couldn't find funding for refrigerated trucks for several years.
For example, in Mykolaiv, two refrigerated trucks are empty. If the bodies are brought there, the workload on the experts will be less and the process will move faster. We asked this question, and we were told that it was Mykolaiv that lacked forensic experts.
But I do not understand why we should not accept foreign assistance. The International Committee of Missing Persons has relevant highly qualified experts. They have offered and are offering Ukraine to send their experts, but this proposal is not really being considered.
IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CURRENT REGULATIONS, THE CONCLUSION CAN NOT STATE THAT A PERSON DIED IN CAPTIVITY
- Who exactly is not willing to consider it? Who is responsible for this on our side?
- We still cannot understand this. We are talking about all the structures that deal with the issue of prisoners of war in one way or another. This includes the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, and the Ombudsman. We asked in military units, and they don't know either. Who can decide to bring in forensic experts from abroad, both locally and globally, is still an open question.
- I assume that this could be included in international aid packages.
- Yes. Or to provide training for Ukrainian specialists to close this gap.
- Those forensic experts who work with the bodies of Ukrainian prisoners of war repeat the diagnoses from the Russian accompanying documents in their conclusions. Why do they do this? Are they forced to do so because professional protocols dictate this, or is it simply indifference?
- According to the current rules, it is possible to write that a military person died either on the battlefield or from a certain disease, but it is not provided that a person died in captivity. Some relatives seek to have the truth revealed through the courts, but how and for how long is another matter.
If this is an imperfection of the law, then it needs to be changed. 150 tortured bodies returned from captivity also means 150 families who experience additional suffering because they have to fight to have their loved one recognized as killed while defending the homeland and receive the social guarantees that are provided in such cases.
Currently, we are communicating with foreign experts to investigate the conclusions of the forensic medical examiners that families receive regarding the bodies of their loved ones. Imagine, now someone's mother or daughter is sure that their loved one is in captivity, fighting for them, waiting for exchanges, and the body of their loved one is already in the morgue and waiting in line for several months for DNA testing and autopsy.
THERE ARE CASES WHEN RELATIVES HAVE ALREADY BURIED THE TORTURED PERSON, BUT HAVE NOT YET RECEIVED A FORENSIC REPORT
- In what form are the bodies returned to Ukraine? There was information that bodies were returned without internal organs.
- How it is done by Russia... Their forensic expert performs an autopsy, writes a conclusion with the cause of death, in some cases all organs are removed and then sewn up without them - so that it is impossible to see the consequences of torture. But this is not a common practice, most bodies are returned with organs because the Russians' goal is to destroy and torture a person. Then they write a conclusion indicating the diagnosis and cause of death, such as pneumonia. And only then they transfer the body to Ukraine. When conducting an autopsy, a Ukrainian forensic expert can take samples of blood and internal organs for examination, but this is basically a rewrite of the diagnosis from Russian documents. Moreover, even the place of death in Russia often does not correspond to reality. For example, they write that a person died in a hospital, when in fact they died in prison, perhaps even in a punishment cell.
They write things in the conclusions as if the person was not in captivity but in a sanatorium, they do not see chronic diseases and diseases of internal organs, which are mentioned by witnesses released from captivity. It's as if the conclusion is made to give some kind of a response, there are often many mistakes in them, the number of internal authorities on the documents exceeds the standard number, and it is unclear whether this is the negligence of our experts or a real problem.
From the last cases I know of, the returned tortured man had missing a part of his brain, with a rag sewn in instead. The report also concluded that he had three lungs and no health problems. All of this looks strange against the background of the testimony received from the released prisoner, who was in custody with the deceased. The way the autopsy is performed and what is normal in this case should be explained to the family.
We have cases where relatives have already buried the tortured defender but still have not received the conclusions of the forensic expert, and lawyers have not been able to get acquainted with the case file for six months. What is the reason for this situation? Why should the relatives carry this suffering with them and continue to suffer even after the burial? This is a question for our government agencies.
- But when you can see on the body that, for example, the nose is broken, there are no nails, these are clear signs of torture.
- Extreme exhaustion due to hunger is also a consequence of torture. There was a case when one woman, based on such clear signs of torture, got her husband recognised as having died defending his homeland.
After a long period of waiting for the examination, the bodies begin to rot and some of the external evidence of torture becomes unidentifiable, having never been recorded.
Photo: Texty.org.ua
- What is the algorithm of actions if the relatives of a tortured person want the true cause of death to be revealed? Where to start and what legal provisions to refer to?
- The most important thing is to have a record that the death occurred as a result of being taken prisoner while defending the homeland. The key here is "while defending the homeland," because this gives you the opportunity to claim social guarantees and protection in the event of the death of a loved one (to simply receive a payment).
Currently, my organization is developing a Roadmap for Death in Captivity to simplify all these processes for relatives. All the conclusions that I receive, with the consent of the relatives, I pass on to independent experts for study and detailed analysis. I believe that in such cases it is better to involve as many specialists as possible.
And don't be afraid to talk about your tragedy, people around you want to help and be there for you, you never know who will hear your story and how they will want to be helpful.
We have to publicize such cases because people were killed in terrible agony and were led to it, it was not an accident. This is Russia's systemic policy towards Ukrainians.
- To summarise, there are two major problems in this area. On the one hand, Ukraine does not officially recognize that a person was killed by torture, and this is a cover-up of Russian crimes. On the other hand, it does not recognize that these people died defending their homeland, so their families cannot claim appropriate social protection.
- Yes. When people are returned from captivity with the body of their son, husband, father, daughter, mother...., not all of them are able to go to the authorities and seek the truth. This in itself is humiliation and additional suffering for the families of those tortured.
RED CROSS HOPES FOR RESULTS FROM 'CONFIDENTIAL DIALOGUE' WITH RUSSIA
- Are you united in any way? And which officials have you approached to solve problems? If changes to legislation were needed, did you communicate with People`s Deputies from the relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada?
- I am acting on behalf of our NGO, "Faithful Always". The specialized committees of the Rada seem inaccessible even to start communicating with them at a basic level. It seems that people are not heard. We are simply being put with the fact of why these regulations cannot be changed. There have been several attempts to contact competent people, but the results are only in individual cases where relatives have fought for rights specifically for their dead. And at the global level, there is silence.
- This issue should be directly controlled by the International Red Cross. There are mentions that sometimes their representatives reach Russian prisons and Ukrainian prisoners there. Have you had any contact with their representatives? To what extent are they aware of the situation?
- The Red Cross is aware. A group from various associations of relatives of prisoners was in Geneva and met with representatives of the Red Cross at their headquarters. We talked about the fact that people are simply being killed. Why do we say this to them? Because it was the Red Cross that confirmed that they were being held captive. They replied that they could not guarantee their lives and explained that Russia simply sends the lists of prisoners.
This issue was raised at the 56th UN session, and the High Commissioner said from the rostrum that people in Russian captivity were being tortured. But the Red Cross continues to say that it hopes for results from the "confidential dialogue".
- What does it consist of?
- I don't know if they were allowed to go anywhere last year. Over the past year, they had access once or twice.
As for access to the colonies, over the past three years, we have learned that the Russians usually allow access to demonstration colonies. At the same time, they can start, for example, fattening people to create the illusion of decent detention. Red Cross representatives do not see all the people, they are shown only certain cells or prisoners. In addition, they cannot undress a person to check for signs of torture. And now it is known that the Russians beat people so that there are no visible signs of beatings or other torture on the visible parts of the body, such as the neck and hands.
However, in general, Russian colonies are very afraid of inspections.
- What kind of inspections are they afraid of?
- Anyone. One released prisoner told me that they are very afraid of inspections from the UN and the Red Cross.
- In other words, we are talking about external audits...
- In fact, they are also afraid of internal audits. They are very afraid of being made a scapegoat in case of something. Therefore, they intimidate prisoners so that no one says anything. There were cases when they announced that a certain person in critical condition needed help. After that the checks in the colony started, but those of our defenders who said that received an additional portion of beatings.
- The network has informal lists of Russian colonies where Ukrainian prisoners are treated the worst. These are colonies in Vyazma, Mordovia, Tula...
- There are many other places like Taganrog. These are the conclusions of civil society in cooperation with law enforcement agencies. There are colonies where the conditions are comparable to those mentioned above. And all those who came out of these four places claim that they were simply killed there every day and did unthinkable things that were not done elsewhere. The imagination of a healthy person would not think of such things. There was no such thing as someone getting off easy, everyone was killed.
Photo: Radio Liberty
- Do you know what the situation is with prisoners held in the colonies of temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in Horlivka, for example?
- Everything is run by Russians in one way or another, no matter what position they hold. They solve all the issues by bringing them down. To what extent is the human factor added when the prisons are run by locals with whom we lived in the same country? This can play both a plus and a minus. There is evidence that residents of the occupied territories can show a more human attitude. But there is also evidence that the wardens from temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine are the most cruel, although this is more true when Russians entered the colony and carried out certain orders from the management.
Olha Skorokhod, Censor. NET
