Sasha’s story, for nine days in the hands of enemies: “I was always blindfolded, they kept me like this in this corner”
From our correspondent
Trostyanets – «I don’t like being in here. I only took you there because I want the world to see what they have done. To us and to this poor city ». Just over 20,000 souls, in Trostyanets everything revolves around the chocolate factory that employs most of the population. Sumy Oblast, one of the most affected by the war. Just 40 kilometers from the Russian border. This is where Putin’s soldiers entered on March 1st. And it is here, in a basement under the station that, from 16 to 25 March, Sasha F. was detained and tortured by the Moscow military. “They came to look for me at home,” she says, with the late August sun setting behind her. “I’m a mechanic, I fix everything, everyone in town knows me because I’m good at fiddling. So they accused me of giving their positions to our military. And it was true, I did it and I would do it again a hundred times».
Sasha is dragged into a 2 by 3 meter cell just below the station. And this is where he asks us to accompany him. “I’ll show it to you.” In the dark room the air is still unbreathable from the smell of urine. The light doesn’t work. Sasha lights up a series of brown spots on the wall with her cell phone flashlight. “They are the traces of blood left by our heads when they hit us on the wall.” Sasha can’t say exactly how many inmates were in his cell. “I was always blindfolded, they kept me like that in this corner”. He sits down and shows the position he’s been in for nine long days. “That was it,” she closes her eyes. He rocks for a while. Then she jumps to her feet. “I want to go away”.
Sasha drank. She asks for a cigarette. You spoke to investigators about what happened. “I have already told the SBU (the Ukrainian services, ndr) and the police. ” In the open air other memories emerge. “The Russians who passed this way were at least a hundred. There was also a woman, I could tell by the sound of footsteps. I know because I have good hearing, I deejayed as a boy right there ». “There” is a one-story building, completely destroyed, on the other side of the square. “One day they dragged us out, near this railing.” Indicate. “They shot us close to the ears to have fun then took us back to the cell “. The story stops. Sasha lights another cigarette. “The boy next to me was killed. He tried to fight back and so they beat him to death. I knew him, I found out later. He was an athlete, so maybe he tried to use force. I could feel his breathing fade as the days passed. Then he died ».
The sun has now set. In Sasha’s workshop, two little red cats play between the flypaper and pieces of metal. “Meet Biba and Boba.” It is to them that Sasha returned when the Russians left on March 25th. “I was tied hand and foot with a cable like this,” she shows as she binds herself with a thick metal tie. “But slowly I managed to take my hand out and free myself, then I helped the others to do the same,” he explains while still showing the marks on his wrists. Five months have passed since that day. “Our city is still destroyed, you see. There is no work, they also bombed the chocolate factory because the Russians kept the military vehicles inside “.
The darkness has now enveloped all of Trostyanets. “Sasha are you okay?” A woman looks into the workshop. On her face the concern of a mother. On the table, a couple of jars of pickles. The empty bottle, only the Biba and Boba bowls are full. “I’ll get you to eat.” And for a moment Sasha’s eyes, a prisoner of the Russians for nine days, stop chasing the shadows on the wall.
August 23, 2022 (change August 23, 2022 | 23:49)
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