A photograph capturing a hallway within a building in Kherson reveals the location of a torture center established by Russian forces.
Photo: Harvey Presence
Editor’s note: The following article includes explicit content describing reports of torture in Ukraine.
WASHINGTON — An international team of lawyers investigating allegations of war crimes in Ukraine has made significant progress in identifying the Russian forces responsible for various acts of torture and sexual violence against prisoners in the city of Kherson.
Kherson, once home to over 280,000 residents, was the first major city to be captured by Russian forces during their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After months of occupation, the city was liberated by Ukrainian forces in November, granting access to international humanitarian and investigative teams.
“Our priority is not only to bring those responsible for these severe sexual crimes to justice but also to build successful cases against those who issued the orders,” stated Wayne Jordash, a renowned international human rights lawyer and managing partner of the law firm Global Rights Compliance, in an interview with CNBC.
Jordash, who leads a Mobile Justice Team composed of international lawyers and investigators supporting Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office, emphasized, “The observed pattern aligns with a deliberate and calculated strategy aimed at humiliating and terrorizing millions of Ukrainian citizens to subjugate them to the will of the Kremlin.”
Read more: A new report reveals that Russian forces have forcibly relocated at least 6,000 Ukrainian children to camps since the start of the war
The Mobile Justice Team is a constituent of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group, funded by the State Department, European Union, and the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Based on the recently gathered evidence, interrogations involving the use of electrocution have been described by at least 36 victims. Furthermore, nearly half of these cases involved the electrocution of the victims’ genitals. Additional testimonies depict threats of genital mutilation and one individual was forced to witness the rape of another detainee using a foreign object.
KHERSON, UKRAINE – JANUARY 04: Officers from the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office and local police investigate war crimes committed by Russian occupying forces on the civilian population in Ukrainian penitentiary buildings on January 4, 2023, in Kherson, Ukraine. According to Kherson police, local residents were held captive in cells and rooms, subjected to torture with electricity and batons, and coerced into writing Russian patriotic texts. Kherson was the only regional capital captured by Russia during the invasion and was subsequently liberated by Ukraine late last year. (Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
Pierre Crom | Getty Images
The evidence collected also highlights other commonly employed techniques against detainees in the more than 35 torture chambers across Kherson, including suffocation, waterboarding, severe beatings, and threats of rape.
In March, the Mobile Justice Team reported that the Kremlin directly financed at least 20 torture sites in Kherson, which were managed by various Russian security agencies, including the Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the KGB.
The Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C. has previously denied accusations of war crimes committed by its forces or deliberate targeting of civilians. CNBC’s request for comment on this matter remains unanswered.
A diverse range of individuals, including military personnel, former soldiers, law enforcement officers, volunteers, activists, community leaders, medical workers, and teachers, were among those held captive in the Russian-operated Kherson torture centers.
“What we are witnessing in Kherson is merely the exposed portion of Putin’s barbaric plan to annihilate an entire population,” asserted Anna Mykytenko, a senior legal advisor for Global Rights Compliance.
Mykytenko further added, “The full extent of Russia’s war crimes remains unknown, but one thing is certain: the psychological impact of these brutal acts on the Ukrainian people will leave lasting scars for years to come.”
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