2023-09-22 14:16:32
“My mandate was denied access to the territory of the Russian Federationbut that did not prevent me from receiving information from about 200 sources both inside and outside Russia,” he summarized in Geneva, Mariana Katzarova, who has just presented his first report, providing evidence of serious human rights violations. Among others, torture, ill-treatment, and arbitrary detentions, existing since before the war in Ukraine, but aggravated by the conflict.
“I urge the Russian authorities to undertake comprehensive human rights reforms to repair the damage of the last 2 decades and comply with their international human rights obligations,” proposed Special Rapporteur Katzarova. It represents the first case of a member state of the Security Council, since the creation of the Human Rights Council in 2006, to which a permanent control mechanism is applied that is “the maximum penalty” against countries that violate the fundamental principles defended by the ONU.
The “significant deterioration” of these principles following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine constitutes “serious restrictions on the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression, and have fundamentally undermined the independence of the judiciary and the guarantees of a fair trial.” Katzarova revealed. They have led to “massive arbitrary arrests, detentions and harassment of human rights defenders, peaceful anti-war activists, journalists, cultural figures, minorities and anyone who speaks out against the “Russian” war in Ukraine.”
Katzarova’s research indicates that “limited accountability for human rights violations at the domestic level and the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the European Court of Human Rights have reduced victims’ possibilities to seek remedies and redress.” However, Russia decided not to recognize the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and notified the UN “that all” her “communications, whether individual or joint, would be automatically discarded.”
At the same time, in Geneva, the publication of another report, issued by the UN Rapporteur against torture, Alice Jill Edwards, upon returning from a visit to Ukraine, which maintains that “Russia’s armed aggression is becoming synonymous with torture and other inhuman cruelties.” She added that “the volume of credible allegations of torture and other inhumane acts that Russian authorities are perpetrating against civilians and prisoners of war appears unabated.” They would not be “random or fortuitous acts, but rather orchestrated as part of a State policy to intimidate, instill fear, punish or extract information and confessions.”
In this regard, he reported that “he collected heartbreaking testimonies about the application of electric shocks to the ears and genitals, beatings of all kinds, mock executions at gunpoint, simulated drownings, the obligation to maintain tense positions, threats of rape or death, and various ceremonies of ridicule and humiliation. Returned Ukrainian civilians and soldiers reported being packed into basements and cells, in cramped conditions, and poorly fed. Several lost dangerous levels of weight.” He assessed that “these acts would constitute torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, prohibited at all times and circumstances by international, humanitarian and human rights law.”
“As the global ban on torture reflects our shared aspiration to live in societies free from fear, perpetrators – including those at the highest level – must be brought to justice,” he stressed. During her recent visit, the expert examined “the procedures and practices of investigation and prosecution of these crimes of torture committed in the context of the armed conflict.” She collected “figures from the Ukrainian government,” that “to date more than 103,000 war crimes proceedings have been registered.”
He considered “a major challenge for the authorities” to “cope with the enormity of the accusations, which has required the expansion of operations, staffing and set of competencies.” He explained that “the work being carried out by Ukrainian authorities to document war crimes is all the more impressive because it is being done “in real time.” “That early performance is virtually unprecedented anywhere in the world.” He warned that “the international duty of every country to investigate and prosecute crimes of torture and other inhuman acts shall not be altered by war or other exceptional circumstances.” Such circumstances “would pose great challenges to any system.”
In turn, Edwards was informed “of the multiple obstacles that prevent justice for the victims. These include the inaccessibility of currently occupied areas, the loss of crucial evidence due to deterioration and the length of time between the crime and release, when investigations can begin, and the adaptation of the criminal justice system to be able to process and prosecute international atrocity crimes.” During the 7-day visit to Ukraine, the expert “visited different places and facilities and inspected the conditions of treatment of Russian prisoners of war and those accused of crimes related to the conflict.”
Regarding this, he reported having verified “that the Ukrainian authorities have made sincere efforts to treat Russian prisoners of war with respect. The bunkhouse-type facilities I visited were hygienic and orderly. The prisoners were well fed, received medical care for their battlefield injuries, were able to practice their religion, and had paid work and recreational facilities.”
Finally, Alice Jill Edwards stated that she met with senior officials of the Ukrainian government, members of the Supreme Court, all services involved in the investigation and prosecution of crimes of torture, the Head of Coordination on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) and the National Preventive Mechanism. She also met with representatives of the diplomatic community, the United Nations and civil society organizations. She conducted various interviews with people deprived of liberty, as well as with victims and survivors.
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