The agency stresses that “it is known that the real figure is probably considerably higher”
Sep. 9 () –
The United Nations has raised this Friday to more than 14,000 Ukrainian civilians who have died or been injured due to the Russian invasion, triggered on February 24 by order of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, a figure that includes more than 5,750 deaths from the start of hostilities.
The head of the UN Human Rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, has indicated in a telematic appearance from the city of Odessa that the agency has been able to confirm 14,059 civilian victims so far, including 5,767 dead and 8,292 injured, if He has also stressed that “it is known that the real figure is, with probability, considerably higher”.
“Every day we talk to people from all over the country and we listen to victims who have suffered human rights violations in the context of the armed conflict, which intensified after the armed attack by Russia”, explained Bogner, who underlined that To date, there have also been 416 arbitrary arrests or enforced disappearances in the territories occupied by Russian forces or affiliated armed groups.
In this sense, he explained that “of the total, 16 have been found dead and 166 have been released” and pointed out that 51 arbitrary arrests and another 30 cases that “could be equivalent to forced disappearances” by the authorities have also been documented. Ukrainians since the outbreak of the war.
“We have documented a range of violations against prisoners of war. We have been granted unrestricted access to detention centers in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government, although Russia has not given access to prisoners of war held on its territory or in the territory under occupation, including areas controlled by the Armed Forces and affiliated armed groups,” he argued.
Bogner stressed that “this is worrying given that prisoners of war held by Russia and held by the Russian Armed Forces or affiliated armed groups have been documented as being tortured and ill-treated and because in some places of detention they lack adequate food, water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.
“We have received information about a difficult health situation in the Olenivka penal colony, where many Ukrainian prisoners of war have suffered from infectious diseases, including hepatitis A and tuberculosis. We have also documented many cases in which Ukrainian prisoners of war have not had permission to contact their relatives to tell them that they have been captured, their location or to talk to them about their health,” he denounced.
Along these lines, it has stressed that the organization “is following cases of many pregnant prisoners of war in places controlled by the Russian Armed Forces or affiliated armed groups” and has called on Moscow to “consider the immediate release of these women for humanitarian reasons “.
Bogner has also indicated that “cases of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of war” have also been documented in the areas controlled by the Ukrainian authorities and has said that these abuses “usually take place after capture, during the first interrogations or transfer to internment camps. “Our mission has been able to visit a prisoner of war camp in Ukraine, although most of them are still detained in prison facilities, which violates the rule that prisoners of war should not be placed in solitary confinement,” she said.
On the other hand, he has warned of the “significant deterioration” of the situation in the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and has highlighted the imposition of “restrictions on the exercise of fundamental freedoms, torture and ill-treatment, forced disappearances and arrests arbitrary acts, violations of the right to a fair trial and lack of accountability for these human rights abuses”.
“We are concerned that the pattern of human rights violations documented in Crimea since 2014 could be repeated in the territory recently occupied by Russia in Ukraine,” he said, before noting that since March 89 trials have been documented against people in Crimea for ” public actions aimed at discrediting the Russian Armed Forces”.
“We have documented arbitrary arrest and torture of individuals detained in the Kherson region, occupied by Russian forces, and transferred to Crimea. In addition, men crossing the administrative border from Ukraine have been subjected to so-called ‘filtering’ by the Service Federal Security at checkpoints. According to credible reports received by our mission, this exposes them to the risk of enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest, torture and ill-treatment,” he pointed out.
Likewise, it has warned that “Crimean Tatars continue to face intimidation and harassment, police raids, judicial proceedings on charges of terrorism and extremism that often do not comply with Human Rights standards” and added that “detained Tatars continue to being deported to remote areas of Russia to serve their sentences.
Finally, Bogner has assured that the mission he heads “will continue to document and report on the facts on the ground and the voices of the victims” and has defended that “this is an essential part when trying to prevent new violations and ensure that accountable for the violations already committed” in the context of the armed conflict.
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