UN calls on countries to demand access to all captives and prisoners from Russia

The head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Danielle Bell, said this, Ukrinform reports.

According to her, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine continues to document cases of arbitrary detention and widespread use of torture and ill-treatment of civilians and prisoners of war by the Russian occupation authorities.

"Since February 2022, we have recorded the unlawful detention of almost a thousand people in the occupied territories. During this reporting period, we documented 43 such cases, but the real number is probably higher," said the Head of the Mission.

Belle also emphasized that about 90% of the people interviewed by the Monitoring Mission who were detained in the temporarily occupied territories reported that they had been tortured and ill-treated in custody. According to her, this trend also applies to prisoners of war.

"Survivor accounts describe incredible brutality, including horrific accounts of brutal beatings. In some cases, this led to broken bones, knocked out teeth," said Bell.

She also noted that during the reporting period, some Russian prisoners of war reported cases of torture and ill-treatment by Ukrainian authorities shortly after their capture.

"The report contains a call to UN member states to demand that the Russian authorities grant access for independent observers to all places of detention and internment. In contrast to this situation, the Human Rights Monitoring Mission has full access to Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine, where we observe an improvement in treatment," added the Head of the Mission.

• In March, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, noted that the findings of the UN Monitoring Mission confirmed that Russia was committing mass crimes in Ukraine, violating human rights and humanitarian law. However, there were allegations that Ukraine violates the rights of prisoners of war. 
• At the same time, he believes that the UN's conclusions on Ukraine's violation of the rights of Russian prisoners of war equate the victim with the aggressor.