The UN warned on Tuesday that many prisoners of war captured by Russian and Ukrainian forces in the conflict in Ukraine were subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including electric shocks.
“The prohibition of torture and ill-treatment is, above all, absolute even in times of armed conflict,” Matilda Bogner, head of the Human Rights Watch Mission in Ukraine, told a video conference in Kiev. said.
He reminded that both countries are parties to the Third Geneva Convention, which regulates the treatment of prisoners of war.
In recent months, the mission has interviewed 159 POWs (139 men and 20 women) held by Russia and its armed groups, and 175 POWs (all men) held by Ukraine.
While the UN has access to Ukrainian government-controlled prisoner-of-war detention facilities, prisoners of war held by Russia and its armed groups have not yet been granted covert access.
The UN also received “credible allegations” of extrajudicial executions of Russian POWs captured by Ukrainian forces, and various cases of torture and ill-treatment.
source: Noticias
