What is known about the crimes of the collaborator in Luhansk?
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has announced charges in absentia against a former head of an occupation prison in Luhansk who tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war.
This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing the SBU press service.
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According to the investigation, the individual in question is an employee of “Correctional Colony No. 4 in LNR.” From October 2022 to January 2024, the perpetrator headed this occupation facility.
During the aforementioned period, while in a leadership position, the collaborator not only ordered subordinates to torture captured Ukrainian soldiers but also personally tortured the victims.
According to the case materials, he regularly beat prisoners with his hands, feet, a rubber baton, and a carpenter’s hammer. Additionally, during the torture, the perpetrator sometimes used a stun gun.
Such actions grossly violate the requirements of Articles 4, 13, 14, 15, and 130 of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949.
“Based on the collected evidence, investigators from the Security Service have announced charges in absentia against the perpetrator under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Comprehensive measures are ongoing to hold him accountable for the torture of Ukrainian soldiers,” the SBU reported.
Russian war crimes against prisoners
It is noted that, according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, at least 90 percent of Ukrainian prisoners of war released from Russian captivity suffered torture there. This demonstrates the scale of the abuse of prisoners in Russian dungeons and camps.
That is why more than 40 member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), led by the Netherlands, have initiated the launch of a mechanism to investigate the torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian occupiers.
