https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/e/7/233896.pdfThe information collected by the Foundation for Democracy Studies
gives grounds to believe that the Ukrainian armed forces (VSU), the
National Guard and other military units of the Ministry of the Interior of
Ukraine, as well as the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) systematically
and on purpose violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human
Rights that reads, ‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.’
The extent to which torture is being used and the fact that this is
done systematically prove that torture is an intentional strategy of the
said institutions, authorized by their leaders
The captured women are frequently raped. Here is what Yuriy
Novoseltsev, one of the torture victims, says about Ukrainian soldiers from
western Ukraine (he could tell that by their accent) beating up and raping
a captured woman in the room next to the one where he was being held:
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War crimes of the armed forces and security forces of Ukraine
‘One night I heard a woman who was being beaten cry. Those young
soldiers (aged from 18 to 25, hardly older) were speaking Ukrainian, but
with the same accent they have in western Ukraine, meaning some of the
words were Polish. Then, those youngsters (there were four or five of them,
I gather) started insulting her; that is they were raping her, beating her and
laughing like horses. That was not a laugh of a human being, meaning they
were either high or drunk. They enjoyed beating and raping her very much.
As to what exactly happened there, I learned later when that woman told
me herself. Just the things I heard were insulting for me as a person.’