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Russian authorities person subjected civilian detainees successful Ukrainian areas it occupies to "widespread" and "systematic" torture, including intersexual violence, the United Nations said connected Tuesday (September 23, 2025).
A UN rights bureau study concluded that Russia "has subjected Ukrainian civilian detainees to accordant patterns of superior violations" of planetary instrumentality since its full-scale penetration of Ukraine successful February 2022.
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"Russia has detained Ukrainian civilians connected a monolithic scale," Danielle Bell, caput of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission successful Ukraine, told reporters successful Geneva.
Speaking from Kyiv, she said Ukraine's apical authoritative had recorded much than 15,000 civilian detentions by Russian authorities, with astatine slightest 1,800 radical inactive successful custody.
"This fig should beryllium considered an implicit minimum," she said, adding that a halfway uncovering of the study was the "systematic and wide torture and sick attraction of (detained) Ukrainian civilians by Russian authorities".
The study said UN investigators had interviewed 216 civilians released from detention successful the occupied territories since June 2023.
It said 92% of them "gave accordant and elaborate accounts of having been subjected to torture oregon ill-treatment during their captivity".
90 executions custody
"Severe beatings with a assortment of instruments, specified arsenic batons and sticks, electrical shocks to assorted assemblage parts (and) mock executions" were among the methods described.
Many said they had suffered threats of decease and unit to themselves oregon a loved one, assorted forms of humiliation and "a assortment of accent positions".
The investigators had documented the extrajudicial execution of 90 Ukrainian civilians successful Russian detention, the study said, adding that a further 38 had "died successful custody arsenic a effect of torture oregon ill-treatment, mediocre conditions of internment, oregon inadequate aesculapian attention".
The study cautioned that Russia's predominant disregard for ineligible safeguards, combined with a dire deficiency of accountability, had "placed galore Ukrainian civilians extracurricular the effectual extortion of the instrumentality during their detention".
UN rights main Volker Turk stated that "people person been arbitrarily picked disconnected the streets successful occupied territory, charged nether shifting ineligible bases and held for days, weeks, months and adjacent years".
"It is indispensable that the quality rights of civilian detainees, who person been severely impacted by this unspeakable conflict, are prioritised successful immoderate bid talks," helium said.
Tuesday's study besides documented "instances of torture and ill-treatment" of civilians detained by Ukrainian authorities.
As of precocious July, Ukraine counted much than 2,250 conflict-related detainees successful authoritative pre-trial and penal facilities, according to the report.
The immense bulk were Ukrainian nationals and lone a fewer were Russian.
Of the 409 conflict-related civilian detainees interviewed for Tuesday's report, 117 gave credible accounts of torture and ill-treatment successful Ukrainian custody, Bell said, adding that astir cases occurred successful 2022.
The study recovered that successful territories it controlled, Ukraine had detained galore of its ain citizens connected charges related to nationalist security, including treason and espionage.
Others faced charges of collaboration linked to interactions with Russian occupying authorities, the study said.
Such charges covered a wide scope of mean work, it said, noting that radical had been prosecuted for carrying retired exigency services, construction, humanitarian alleviation and garbage removal during the occupation.
