GINEBRA.- The Russian armed forces and their auxiliaries systematically resort to torture in the occupied territories of Ukraine, a United Nations expert said Friday.
“The number of credible allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or humiliating treatment or punishment” indicates that “torture is an element of Russia’s war policy,” said Alice Jill Edwards, UN special rapporteur on torture.
The rapporteur noted that Ukrainian prosecutors have opened some 103,000 cases related to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and that 90% of them were registered as cases of torture.
In a report prepared after visiting Ukraine in September, Edwards established that “torture was carried out in an organized and systematic manner.” His conclusions point to “a direct authorization and a deliberate policy.”
Special rapporteurs are independent experts mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, but they do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.
Edwards on Friday called on Moscow to “issue a firm and unequivocal directive … that torture is never permissible and will be punished.”
The rapporteur, who was not authorized to visit Russia, also urged the country to “open investigations into these accusations and authorize international inspectors to visit all places of deprivation of liberty and observe criminal proceedings.”
Source: With information from AFP
