Alla, a 52-year-old Ukrainian woman, was imprisoned for ten days by Russian soldiers in the city of Izyum, in the eastern Ukrainian province of Kharkiv. The Russians tortured and raped her several times. Fearing to die, Alla carved descriptions of the beatings into the walls. “If my son were to look for me, he would read it and know that I had died there.”
Russian soldiers captured Alla in July to obtain information about her son. He works for the Security Service of Ukraine (SUB). However, Alla also had to share everything about her own job in a regional gas company. Her husband, who works in the same company, was also arrested and mistreated for this reason.
In the weeks before the arrest, Russian soldiers had already searched Alla’s son’s apartment and the home of Alla and her husband. On July 1, the soldiers visited again, although this time it was a lot more violent, the woman testified to the American newspaper. The Washington Post. The men pulled bags over Alla and her husband’s heads, tied their hands with tape, and pushed each into the trunk of a car. “Either you follow our rules, or we’ll make you go missing. No one will find you, never,” the soldiers threatened, according to Alla.
‘Electric shock’
The Russian military took Alla and her husband to an empty clinic in Izyum and held them captive for ten days. The couple was treated inhumanely. “The Russian soldiers shouted, ‘We will knock Ukraine out of you!'” Alla said. The commander of the group of soldiers is also said to have encouraged them to rape Alla.
Convinced she would die in the clinic, Alla carved words into the walls to describe the horrifying events. Journalists from The Washington Post visited the place and indeed saw words like ‘electric shock’, ‘undress’ and ‘painful’ written on the walls. While not every detail of Alla’s story could be verified, according to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, testimonials from others emerged of torture at the clinic. For example, a man who was held in the garage of the clinic is said to have heard women screaming on several occasions.
Punished for Ukrainian nationality
After lengthy interrogations, the Russians finally decided to let Alla and her husband go, although the couple still don’t understand why. On July 10, they were blindfolded and dropped off at a gas station. Afterwards, the couple fled to a part of Ukraine that was not occupied by Russia. Last month, after the Russians withdrew from Izhum, Alla and her husband returned to their hometown for the first time. The couple’s son was also able to return. Although the family is now safe, Alla has not yet come to terms with the traumatic experience. “We are Ukrainians. We have always been on the side of Ukraine and we have been punished for that,” she says.
Stories like Alla’s are not exceptional. For example, countless testimonies about war crimes committed by Russian soldiers have come out since the start of the war in Ukraine. In Izyum, Russian soldiers are said to have tortured civilians in dozens of places. A mass grave was also found in the region. Many of the deceased showed signs of abuse.
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