Russian soldiers on the spot over rampant sexual violence in Ukraine
A Ukrainian firefighter walks in the rubble of a shopping mall following a Russian shelling in Kherson on February 3, 2023.
What you need to know:
- Global Rights Compliance has released the findings of its Mobile Justice Team’s investigation into ‘torture chambers’ in the liberated city of Kherson.
- At least 43 per cent of those interviewed explicitly mentioned torture and cited sexual violence as a common tactic used by Russian guards.
Global Rights Compliance has released the findings of its Mobile Justice Team’s investigation into ‘torture chambers’ in the liberated city of Kherson in Ukraine that shows of massive sexual violence.
The investigation shows that nearly 50 per cent of Ukrainian detainees were subjected to torture, including horrific sexual violence crimes in Kherson detention centres, by Russian soldiers. An analysis of an initial pool of 320 cases of detention across more than 35 identified detention centres shows at least 43 per cent of those interviewed explicitly mentioned torture and cited sexual violence as a common tactic used by Russian guards.
At least 36 victims mentioned genital electrocutions, genital mutilation threats, and being forced to witness the rape of another detainee with a foreign object covered in a condom, among other sexual violence forms. Suffocation, waterboarding, severe beatings and threats of rapewere the other techniques used, according to the specialist unit.
Worrying trend
There has been mounting concerns that the documented ‘patterns’ of rape and other sexual crimes inflicted on occupied people across Ukraine may speak to a premeditated plan on a systematic level. Those detained included military officers, ex-military officers, law enforcers, volunteers, activists, community leaders, medical workers, and teachers.
Wayne Jordash KC, the managing partner and co-founder of Global Rights Compliance, said the tactics uncovered by the Office of the Prosecution at the detention centres suggests a range of crimes evocative of genocide.
“At the very least, the pattern we are observing is consistent with a cynical and calculated plan to humiliate and terrorise millions of Ukrainian citizens to subjugate them to the diktat of the Kremlin. Together with the OPG, we are committed to investigating these crimes and prosecuting those responsible for these attacks against Ukrainian citizens,” said Jordash KC.
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Anna Mykytenko, Global Rights Compliance senior legal adviser and Ukraine country manager, noted that the true scale of Russia’s war crimes remains unknown but added that the psychological consequences of these cruel crimes will be ingrained in their minds for years to come.
“What we are witnessing in Kherson is just the tip of the iceberg of the ongoing barbaric plan to obliterate an entire population. Justice will be served for Ukrainian survivors as we continue our mission to identify and hold perpetrators accountable. Impunity is not an option,” she said.
Sexual violence during conflict may be classified as a war crime, crime against humanity, and a crime of genocide if other necessary elements are satisfied.
Global Rights Compliance, jointly with the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, recently started working with a new taskforce of investigators and prosecutors to create a nationwide set of protocols for investigating and prosecuting conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine.
Using a collaborative and consultative process, the taskforce is recommending ways to strengthen investigations and prosecutions in an effective and victim- or survivor-centred manner, in line with international best practice.
