The Russian armed forces and their partners use them systematically torture in its occupied territories Ukrainianas a result of which they have turned into a “deliberate policy”, a United Nations expert argued today.

“The number of credible allegations of torture and other forms of ill-treatment or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment” shows that “torture is an element of Russia’s war policy,” said Alice Jill Edwards, the special rapporteur on UN about torture.

“These serious crimes do not seem to happen at random,” she continued, in her speech before the UN Human Rights Council.

Edwards, who visited Ukraine last September, told reporters she learned from Ukrainian prosecutors that about 103,000 cases related to war crimes and crimes against humanity have been opened. 90% of them concern cases of torture. She added that she has also examined dozens of cases alleged abusive practices on the part of Russian forces and of allies them and that there is clearly “intent and purpose” in the practice of torture which cannot be described as “deviant or occasional conduct”.

In the report she wrote after her visit to Kiev, Alice Jill Edwards states that “torture was carried out with organized and systematic way” and that the same practices were applied in different occupied territories. Her conclusions, she told the Council, indicated an “immediate endorsement and deliberate policy”.

Edwards and the other special rapporteurs are independent experts entrusted with investigations by the Human Rights Council, but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations. The same today called on Moscow to give a “clear directive” that torture is not acceptable and that the perpetrators will be punished.

Edwards, who has not been allowed to go to Russia, also called on that country to open investigations into the allegations against her and to allow international inspectors to visit all places of “deprivation of liberty” and monitor criminal trials. He assured that the Ukrainian authorities are making a sincere effort to treat prisoners of war with respect.

Her report, however, raised many questions about the conditions of detention in a prison in Lviv, in western Ukraine, where Ukrainian citizens who have been accused of collaborating with the Russians are being held. Edwards documented “numerous allegations of abusive behavior by Ukrainian public officials,” particularly regarding the arrest and transfer of detainees.

“I call on the Ukrainian authorities to quickly investigate these charges, strengthen disciplinary and other preventive measures, and guarantee the protection of all legal rights of all accused and prisoners,” he stressed.