Belgians tell about torture of civilians in Kherson detention center

In the Kherson detention center during the occupation, the Russians systematically tortured civilians: they beat them, hung them, suffocated them with water and used electric shocks. Many victims were seriously injured, some of them lost their eyesight, hearing, or became disabled.

This was reported by Zmina.info with reference to a report by the Belgian non-governmental organization International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR).

The Belgian human rights organization has published a report on the torture that the Russian occupiers used against civilians in the Kherson temporary detention center during the occupation of the city.

The document states that among the most common methods were regular beatings, hanging people by their hands, electric shocks and the use of water to simulate drowning.

Human rights activists recorded that the detainees were beaten with hands, feet, rubber truncheons, gun butts and even chairs. 43 out of 59 interviewees said that they had broken ribs after the beatings. One man said he was hung by his hands from the ceiling and severely beaten. Others were left hanging without being able to move. The guards cynically called this method of abuse a "gym".

Screenshot: IPHR

Another common form of torture was electroshock. The occupiers used a TA-57 field phone ("tapik"), a car battery, stun guns and welding machines. Victims had terminals attached to their bodies - ears, fingers, back, shoulders, nipples, eyebrows. In some cases, the current was applied to the genital area. This torture was called by mocking names - "call to Zelensky", "call to Biden", "physical polygraph".

Many detainees lost consciousness after hours of electric shocks. Another method of torture was imitation of drowning, which the Russians called "swimming lessons". The victims were covered with a cloth over their faces and then poured water from bottles directly onto the cloth, causing panic and suffering. One of the witnesses said that about 200 liters of water were poured on him during interrogation, and later he was subjected to electric shocks.

In addition to physical torture, the occupiers systematically put pressure on the psyche. One of the detainees was forced to write a farewell note, another was taken to a bridge and forced to prepare to jump into the water, but changed his mind at the last minute. Another man was taken to a cemetery, put in a grave, and subjected to a mock execution and threats of murder.

Threats of killing relatives, life imprisonment or the death penalty were also common. In many cases, relatives were not even informed where the detainee was being held.

In the temporarily occupied Kherson region, the Russian military continues to illegally detain local residents in torture chambers. For example, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Henichesk, they set up a torture place in the premises of the former school No. 17. In Nova Kakhovka, the basement of the 14th school was also turned into a torture chamber. In April 2022, in Kherson, the invaders created their own Isolation, an analog of the notorious Donetsk prison.

Анна Бальчінос