Journalist: Russians are holding abducted Kherson mayor in secret prison in Crimea

New evidence has emerged about the abducted mayor of Kherson, Ihor Kolikhayev, who is being held in a secret prison under the FSB building in temporarily occupied Simferopol.

This was reported by journalist and war crimes documentarian Anna Mamonova.

She spoke with a Ukrainian who spent two and a half years in this underground prison and recently returned home. According to him, Kolykhayev is holding on, although the conditions in the basement are terrible - there are no toilets, sinks or basic amenities.

The journalist noted that, according to data obtained in the spring of 2024, the mayor of Kherson was held in this very basement. Russia denies the existence of the prison, but released prisoners secretly tell whom they met there.

"Interrogations are conducted by FSB officers from Russia, not Crimean ones. They change in rotation. There is a polygraph. There are beatings. I have no information about electric shocks. Electric shocks are used in pre-trial detention centers. If a person needs to be shocked into a false confession, they transfer him or her from the basement to the pre-trial detention center. There are three pre-trial detention centers in Simferopol, and a fourth is under construction. Before the full-scale invasion, there was one pre-trial detention center on the peninsula," she said.

Mamonova emphasized that she had no evidence that the mayor was being tortured in the literal sense - beatings, electric shocks, "but any captivity is always a mockery and a crime."

What is known about Kolikhayev's abduction

Igor Kolikhayev, the mayor of Kherson, was abducted by the Russian occupiers on June 28, 2022. He was detained after he arrived at the office of a utility company. At the time of his abduction, Kherson was under Russian occupation.

According to witnesses, Kolikhayev was detained after refusing to cooperate with the occupation administration. He was held in an unknown location without access to lawyers or communication with his family.

Representatives of the Ukrainian authorities reported that the mayor of Kherson was taken into Russian captivity because of his pro-Ukrainian position.

According to information that appears periodically in the media, Kolikhayev is probably being held in the basement of the FSB in Simferopol. The conditions of his detention are extremely difficult.

Ірина Глухова