The discovery of the bodies is further evidence that the Russians are guilty of torture in occupied territory. After the departure of the Russian army, the Ukrainians also found traces of torture, rape and murder by Russian soldiers in previously liberated cities and areas such as Butsha, Kharkiv and Izhum.
The victims are said to have been held in appalling conditions in old Ukrainian prisons and makeshift cells in basements, office buildings and homes. There they received electroshocks or were beaten with sticks.
Prisoners were also given a gas mask, after which the breathing tube was squeezed shut, a torture technique that the Russians also used in other occupied areas. Some would not have survived the torture or would have been murdered afterwards. In total, the authorities say they have already identified 436 cases of war crimes in the region.
‘Completely disoriented’
Because Kherson was under Russian rule for about eight months, the authorities suspect that they may find even more evidence of torture. In addition, an estimated seven hundred people are still missing. “The search has only just begun,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastrysky told Ukrainian television Thursday morning. “So many more dungeons and cemeteries will be discovered.”
Residents of a former youth detention center, which was taken over by the Russians during the occupation, describe to The Guardian screams came from the building. They also saw how people were brought in with bags over their heads and bodies were carried out of the building. An operator of a neighboring kiosk tells the newspaper how she saw people come out “beaten up and completely disoriented”.
Oleksandr Maksimenko (69), one of the prisoners of the Russians, says in a interview with the BBC that the fifteen other men with whom he shared a cell were beaten and tortured. Some were given electroshocks, he said. “One man was almost completely blue – from his head to his legs. It took him eight days to stand up again,” Maksimenko told the British broadcaster.
Revenge on family
According to the witnesses, residents of Kherson could be arrested and tortured for various reasons under Russian rule. The Russians arrested people who protested against the occupation, but also retaliated against relatives of Ukrainian soldiers.
Even before the recapture of Kherson, the Ukrainian authorities had strong evidence of torture and large-scale detention of civilians. Through statements from people who had fled the city because of the Russian occupation, the Ukrainians have already tracked down several torture locations. In total, the Ukrainians found eleven illegal prisons, four of them with torture chambers.
All cells and rooms were empty when the Ukrainians entered. But the Ukrainian prosecutor of Kherson says he has collected testimonies that prove that more than 800 people were detained during the occupation. The Russians released some of the prisoners before withdrawing from the city. Many others were said to have been taken in the retreat or died in captivity.