"They turned on the music and beat": a resident of Berdyansk told what he experienced in Yelenovka

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Russians brutally tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war in the colony in Yelenovka - witness
13:45, 13.08.2022

Ukrainians were forced to work, and for the slightest "misconduct" they were punished with beatings with rubber truncheons.



Stanislav Glushko from Berdyansk spent one hundred days in a colony in Yelenovka. He personally experienced the so-called "penalty cell", through which all the prisoners of the colony passed, before his eyes the Ukrainian military were brutally tortured. His story was recorded by MIHR journalists.

The war caught Stanislav Glushko when he came from abroad to his native Berdyansk for a couple of weeks. He expected to quickly complete the necessary documents and leave, but because of the war, plans had to be canceled. Stanislav left for Zaporozhye. There he tried to enroll in the local terrorist defense, but they didn’t take him, they told him to wait. However, Stanislav wanted action and went to the volunteers. There he saw people from Mariupol. He was struck by the state of the people there. Then he decides to help take people out of the occupied city.

Stanislav said that the last checkpoint in front of Mariupol was fatal for him and his colleagues. There, the Russians stopped the volunteers and put them in a cell.

They spent days there without food or water. Then they tied his hands and eyes, sent him to Starobeshevo. The reception there was very strict. We were brought on a big stage, 30-40 people. We were on our knees, some of them were beaten very hard,” the man said.

A day later, he and about 40 other people were sent to Donetsk.

Stanislav said that the Russians did not want to talk to the prisoners, and in response to any question they simply beat, tortured many.

They tortured one guy from the Ministry of Emergency Situations. They connected electrodes to the little toes of their feet and beat them very severely. The guy moaned all night, could not straighten up. On the kidneys he flew very hard. Girls were also beaten at the UBOP. After being tortured, one of them could not walk for about a week,” the volunteer said.

Stanislav says that he was recognized as a civilian, but nevertheless taken to Yelenovka.

The so-called "acceptance" in Yelenovka was even more cruel. Everyone who was brought to the colony was first put, as they say there, on cortans - in a race with their hands behind their necks. Some, says Stanislav, physically could not even sit in this position. For every "wrong" movement they kicked. After several hours in this position, people were sent to the so-called punishment cell, he says.

Stanislav ended up in a cell with an area of about 15 square meters, in which 35 people were put. Then seven more were added.

He recalls that it was unrealistic to lie down there, they slept in turns. To relax in the cell made a schedule. In such conditions, they sat for more than 15 days.

People fell asleep while standing up, - says the volunteer.

At the same time, there was no water in the cell, a small piece of bread was divided into eight people.

According to him, the most cruel period in the colony came in the evening.

When it got dark outside, loud music was turned on in the room. There was an echo in long corridors, and against its background - a plea for salvation, - Stanislav recalls.

The man recalls how once a prisoner of war was severely beaten: "He was forced to crawl along a long corridor, they didn't let him get up - they mocked him in this way. While he was crawling towards the cell, he was beaten." Stanislav recalls that prisoners of war from Azovstal were taken directly to the barracks, they had the exclusive right to have personal items with them, for example, mats. As the prisoners said, this was due to the agreements, according to which the Ukrainian military surrendered.

"They turned on the music and beat": a resident of Berdyansk told what he experienced in Yelenovka

The release from captivity for a man was a surprise.

The escort came and said to pack things, no one understood why. Somewhere deep down they believed that this was a dismissal. But many were discouraged and thought that this was the next stage, ”Glushko recalls.

The volunteer, along with other prisoners, was taken to the gates of the checkpoint, given papers on dismissal. It was a document of the so-called “Prosecutor General of the DPR”. It noted that there were no claims against the dismissed, that they were not military personnel and did not participate in "terrorist groups", actions, etc.

He had to return to the territory controlled by Ukraine through Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - this was the safest way.

Andrey Yakovlev, managing partner of Umbrela JSC, MIHR expert, based on the story of Svyatoslav, focuses on the fact that the Russians are holding civilian hostages and military personnel, dividing them into those who belong to the so-called "terrorist groups." From this, he says, a number of conclusions can be drawn.

First, it appears that the occupation administration is trying to enforce Russian criminal law. Russia is also trying to deprive prisoners of war of their rights under the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War (LC III). And this is about violating the laws and customs of war. Thirdly, - Yakovlev continues, - the long-term detention of prisoners of war as accused of ordinary offenses without verification by judicial procedures of the very fact of deprivation of liberty violates the laws and customs of war. Deprivation of the right of access to a fair trial testifies to the war crime of the Russians, he said.

It should be noted, as Minister for Reintegration Irina Vereshchuk said , 131 women from Azovstal in Mariupol are in Russian captivity - these are the military, border guards and doctors.

The invaders want to arrange a "trial" of Ukrainian prisoners of war on the Independence Day of Ukraine on August 24

Occupiers plan to “trial” Ukrainian prisoners in Mariupol on Independence Day of Ukraine

15:40, 11.08.22
Oleg Kotov
Oleg Kotov
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Elena Rasenko

Elena Rasenko writes about science, healthy living and psychology news, and shares her work-life balance tips and tricks.