Torture of Kherson region residents by Russian forces was part of plan to destroy Ukrainian identity - international legal group

The Guardian reported the information.

According to the conclusions of the Mobile Justice Team international group of lawyers, the Russian authorities financed the torture of Kherson region residents.

"The mass torture chambers, financed by the Russian state, are not random but rather part of a carefully thought-out and financed blueprint with a clear objective to eliminate Ukrainian national and cultural identity," said Wayne Jordash, the group's head.

The experts examined 20 torture chambers in Kherson. The torture was carried out by FSB, FSIN (Federal Penitentiary Service) and local collaborators.

The Ukrainian prisoners were beaten, subjected to electric shocks, put their heads in water, and forced to learn and recite pro-Russian slogans, poems and songs.

Inside a youth detention facility in Kherson that Ukrainian investigators said was used as a 'torture room' by occupying Russian forces, in November 2022. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

The prisoners included anyone with ties to the Ukrainian state or Ukrainian civil society: activists, journalists, civil servants, and teachers. Other victims said that they were randomly stopped on the street and then detained allegedly for "pro-Ukrainian" materials on their phones.

• On February 22, Ukraine’s Security Sevice reported that 4 organizers of the pseudo-referendum, who threatened to torture Ukrainians for refusing to vote for the region's "accession" to Russia, were detained in the Kherson region.

• On February 27, Ukraine’s Security Service, together with the State Bureau of Investigation, exposed 4 more traitors and defectors in the process of stabilization activities in the liberated Kherson.