In a statement, the British said it is deeply concerned by reports of systematic ill-treatment of detainees, some of whom spoke at the event, as well as experts including Pablo de Grieff from the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
“Among the most disturbing reports are those of torture,” the statement said.
The UN Human Rights Office, Independent Commission of Inquiry, and Moscow Mechanism have consistently detailed Russian authorities’ ill-treatment and torture of Ukrainian POWs, the statement said. Recent months have seen those assessments worsen.
“Their reports are chilling,” the statement said. “They include reports that detainees have been subject to beatings, psychological pressure, prolonged stress positions, and mock executions. The reports find that interrogations are often accompanied by the worst kinds of torture including burns, and rounds of electric shocks amplified by water. Sexual violence is the norm for detainees, both men and women, with POWs enduring rape, attacks on genital organs, and threats of sexual mutilation and castration.”
“Russia has a responsibility to ensure prisoners of war and civilian detainees must be treated humanely, under the third and fourth Geneva Conventions,” the statement said.