Russia detains civilians widely and arbitrarily in its occupied territories in Ukraine. The treatment of detainees may meet the hallmarks of war crimes and crimes against humanity, says the European Organization for Security and Cooperation, OSCE, in its latest report.
Those arrested have had to endure torture, sexual and other violence and humiliation. They have been kept isolated from the outside world, in which case the relatives have had no information about their fate. Some have been killed.
Arrests since the annexation of Crimea
Arbitrary arrests of civilians have been Russia’s typical modus operandi in the territories it occupies in Ukraine for a decade, that is, since it occupied the Crimean peninsula in the spring of 2014.
The practice soon spread to the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which were controlled by Russian-backed rebels. When Russia launched a major invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the arrests of civilians have spread to all the territories it occupies.
The OSCE states that it is not possible to estimate the exact number of detained civilians, but the scale is massive and the number of detainees is in the thousands. Only fragmentary information about the detained civilians has been received from Russia.
Among others, journalists, local authorities and people suspected of cooperation with the Ukrainian army or of pro-Ukraine and anti-Russian opinions have been arrested.
People who refuse to cooperate with Russia have also been arrested, such as the workers of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. You can also be arrested just for being disloyal to the occupier.
According to the OSCE, Russia is also guilty of collective arrests of entire groups of people, which international law prohibits, unless the case of each detainee is dealt with separately.
Persons protected under international law have also not escaped arrest: three Ukrainian members of the OSCE observer group have been under arrest already two years. Occupiers have condemned two of them to 13 years in prison. Regarding the third, the processing is in progress.
The reason for the arrest is often obscure
According to the OSCE, the arrests of civilians have been mainly arbitrary and the treatment of civilians brutal.
Most have also not been officially told the reason for the arrest. According to the OSCE research group, the most common reasons are believed to have been suspicion of supporting the Ukrainian army or links to terrorism or other extremist activities, opposition to Russia’s war of aggression, the intention to force cooperation with Russia and inciting fear in the population.
International treaties allow the detention of civilians in conflicts if they are deemed to be supporting the opposing military or international terrorism. Even then, the detention must be temporary and the treatment humane.
Even in those cases where Ukrainian civilians have been arrested for these reasons, according to the OSCE, their treatment has been contrary to international agreements.
Detained civilians have not had the opportunity to challenge the legality of their detention. Those arrested have not received fair trials and have been convicted under laws that should not have been applied to the cases. A defense lawyer or other legal aid has also been denied.
The majority of the arrests of Ukrainian civilians by Russia can be considered arbitrary according to international agreements, either because of the reason for the arrest or the arrest process, the OSCE believes. It notes that such detainees should be released immediately.
Few cases have come to the attention of the OSCE in which Russian authorities have released civilians they have arbitrarily detained, and even then, usually without explanation.
In harsh conditions isolated from the outside world
Russia has kept the civilians it detained in miserable conditions and contact with the outside world is prohibited. Often, relatives have no information about the fate of the detainees.
According to the OSCE, detained civilians are held in temporary detention centers, especially in the initial stages. The prosecutor’s office of Ukraine has listed 164 such centers and has become aware of 5,600 people imprisoned in them.
It has been reported that the fate of those arrested was particularly harsh in the temporary centers.
During detention, prisoners are usually taken to official detention centers, temporary solitary confinement cells or penal institutions. Most are located in Crimea, but there are also in Russia and presumably in Belarus, the OSCE says.
According to the information received by the OSCE, all the detention centers have a connection with the Russian security service, the FSB. Its agents visit the centers for interrogations.
Last May, the OSCE published a report About forced transfers of children by Russia in Ukraine. According to the organization, there are indications of crimes against humanity.