The Ukrainians Detainees are being deliberately denied medical care in Russian prisons, and even doctors have been involved in torture, in one penitentiary, according to the UN Human Rights Council’s Committee of Inquiry.

The commission, set up to investigate human rights abuses in Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February 2022, had already concluded that torture was being “systematically” carried out by the occupying forces.

In today’s oral presentation of her report to the Council, she underlined that the fact that similar methods were being used over a vast geographical area “demonstrates that torture is used as a routine and accepted practice by the Russian authorities, with a sense of impunity».

Apart from systematic torture and rape in prison camps or the rape of women in occupied towns and villages, the Commission also noted that in many detention centers controlled by the Russian authorities “there was no adequate medical assistance for those who desperately needed it ».

“In one of these centers, doctors were involved in torture,” said Commission President Eric Mose, quoting testimony from Ukrainian ex-prisoners at Olenivka prison in Ukraine.

On July 29, 2022, an explosion in this detention center killed many Ukrainian prisoners.

The Russians accused the Ukrainians of bombing the prison. Kiev, Western countries and many analysts believe that Russia is responsible for the explosion.

According to the witnesses, “no medical help was provided” to dozens of people who were injured and their lives were in danger. Army medics, prisoners themselves, tried to treat the wounded, the report said.

“They saw many people die that night while the (prison) administration was sitting there watching themsaid Moshe.

The testimonies collected by the Commission also show that the physical and psychological consequences for ex-prisoners are enormous.

“I was haunted by the fear that I would be imprisoned again. I am now at home, but I still feel like a prisonersaid one of them, who says he was tortured by the Russians.

Many victims said it was “vital” that justice be served, and the Commission’s chairman insisted it must continue gathering evidence.