The UN special rapporteur called the torture committed by the Russian military in Ukraine part of state policy

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, said that torture by Russian security forces and the military in Ukraine is a state policy of Russia and a systematic practice.

The New York Times writes about it.

"This is not random, aberrant behavior. This is orchestrated as part of state policy to intimidate, instill fear or punish to extract information and confessions," Edward said at the end of a seven-day trip to Ukraine.

She spoke with victims of torture by the Russians, and they confirmed the systematic nature of such a phenomenon. According to Edward, since receiving the mandate in 2022, she appealed to the authorities of the Russian Federation at least seven times to respond to the facts of abuse and torture, but they did not answer her. She regards silence as the tacit consent of the authorities.

She added that the leadership of the Russian Federation has never issued a directive to the military and security forces that would prohibit torture.

• In November 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner reported in a report on the systematic nature of torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians. This is happening both in the occupied territories and in Russia itself, where Ukrainians are being deported. The SBU and law enforcement officers often found torture chambers in the liberated territories. Their number indicates the existence of a whole network.
• In August of this year, the SBU reported the suspicion to Russian Colonel-General Arkady Gostev, the director of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service. He created a network of Russian prisons in the occupied territories under the guise of correctional and correctional institutions.