Ukrainian prisoners of war spoke about torture in Taganrog pre-trial detention center

Ukrainian servicemen, who were in captivity, told the Russian service of the BBC about the brutal torture in the pre-trial detention (PTD) center in Taganrog, in the south of Russia.

Journalist Hugo Bachega spoke with more than a dozen former prisoners of war. According to them, men and women in the Taganrog pre-trial detention center were repeatedly beaten (including on the kidneys and chest), as well as tortured with electric current during daily checks and interrogations. Tattoos with Ukrainian symbols, for example, a blue-yellow flag, attracted the special attention of the guards.

In Taganrog, the prisoners were hardly fed, and the wounded did not receive the necessary medical care, as a result of which some of them died in prison.

The Ukrainians also said that the Russian guards constantly threaten and intimidate the prisoners. Some prisoners gave false confessions that were later used against them in a Russian court.

• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner has evidence that some prisoners were tortured and ill-treated by the Russians, which could amount to war crimes. However, Russia does not grant the organizationʼs representatives access to Ukrainian prisoners of war.