The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

The United Nations proclaimed June 26 the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Despite the absolute prohibition of torture under international law, it persists in all regions of the world. In Ukraine, it is perpetrated by Russia in the territories it has occupied since 2014. 

Russian occupation of Crimea and parts of Ukraine’s eastern regions comes with the Kremlin’s inhuman methods of suppressing dissent or destroying the “undesirable”. Among other things, they include the use of torture to force confessions in preposterous “crimes”, e.g. for merely voicing pro-Ukrainian views or practicing religion seen as “dangerous” by the occupation regime.

Izolyatsia has become the biggest secret prison in the occupied territories, notorious as a “torture chamber”. It was founded as a factory in 1955, then activists turned it into a platform for cultural initiatives in 2010. When the Donetsk region was occupied by the Russian hybrid forces in 2014, it was seized and turned into a secret prison and army base.

The prisoners tell of the most abhorrent abuse perpetrated by the occupants: torturing with electric currents attached to parts of the body, rape, deprival of sleep, violent beatings, etc.

We prepared an infographic with facts told by those who survived being held hostage at Izolyatsia, get acquainted and share to raise awareness about the modern concentration camp with a face of aggressor Russia: