Such is the Russian remand prison, which Ukrainians call hell on earth Foreign countries

Ukrainian reporter Viktoria Roshchina27, was missing for more than a year.

In August 2023, Roštšina was on a business trip in eastern Ukraine and disappeared. More than a year later, in October 2024, Roshchina’s relatives in Ukraine received information from the Russian authorities: their loved one had died on September 19, when he was being transferred from the pre-trial detention center in Taganrok to Moscow.

The cause of death was not disclosed.

Roshchina is one of 180 Ukrainian civilians who have perished in Russian remand prisons, penal camps and detention centers during the war of aggression.

Russian Human Rights Organization Mediazona according to Roštšina, she spent the last five months of her life in the notorious Taganrok remand prison.

Ukrainians who survived Taganroki call the place “hell on earth”.

There is no exact information about what happened to Roštšina in Taganrok, but human rights organizations and Ukraine suspect that Roshchina was tortured before her death.

In this story, a member of the expert council of the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), the leading human rights organization in Ukraine Mihail Savva tells what happens to Ukrainians when they are imprisoned in Russia.

CCL, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has documented war crimes committed by the Russian army against Ukrainian civilians during the Russian invasion.

CCL’s information about the conditions in Russian prisons is based on the stories of freed Ukrainians and the stories of human rights activists and Russian lawyers.

Anyone can end up in a secret prison

According to Savva, the Taganroki remand prison is one of Russia’s secret prisons.

The prisons are called secret because Russia holds people there without legal grounds.

According to Savva, there are currently thousands of Ukrainians in Russian prisons. However, only 575 Ukrainians have received official charges or a sentence in Russia.

According to Savva, this indicates that in 90 percent of the cases, Russia has not brought charges or started an official criminal process against the imprisoned Ukrainian.

– The decision to imprison Ukrainian civilians is made by the regional directors of the security service FSB, not the courts. Imprisonment is often justified by opposition to the Russian special operation, Savva explains.

Russia still calls the nearly three-year-long large-scale attack on Ukraine a special operation. Savva points out that opposing the special operation is the most common pretext used by Russian soldiers to detain Ukrainian civilians in their occupied territories.

Russia is trying to hide the harsh conditions of the remand prison

According to leaked information, prisoners in the Taganroki remand prison are denied adequate food, medical care, hygiene and connections to the outside world.

– Russia wants to keep quiet about the starvation of Ukrainian prisoners. According to our information, the majority of freed Ukrainians return home really thin and malnourished, says Savva.

Russia holds both Ukrainian civilian and war prisoners, men and women, in the Taganrok remand prison.

The men’s hair is shaved when they arrive at the remand prison. Women’s hair is not shaved, but women are not allowed to wear their hair in pigtails or ponytails.

Men get to shower a couple of times a month, women once a week.

Prisoners do not receive proper hygiene equipment. Women are usually given soap, menstrual pads, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Men are sometimes given a piece of soap, but usually they get nothing.

Prisoners are kept in cramped quarters. Diseases such as tuberculosis are a big problem in prison.

Prisoners are almost completely denied medical treatment.

If a prisoner is able to see a nurse or doctor, he is usually treated harshly.

– The treatment is such that many do not dare to ask for help again, Savva says.

According to the expert, Western countries should place Russian security authorities, representatives of the judiciary and prison staff under sanctions.

Savva justifies that, for example, prison guards in remand prisons in the Rostov region commit war crimes.

According to The Media Initiative for Human Rights, at least three Ukrainian prisoners died in the Taganrok remand prison as a result of cruel treatment and inadequate nutrition in 2022.

Mental and physical torture

According to the UN Human Rights Commissioner, 91 percent of freed Ukrainians report having experienced physical or psychological torture in Russian prisons.

Savva says that in all the cases that have come to CCL’s attention, there have been signs of torture, says Savva.

The guards use a variety of tools for abuse: sticks, metal chains, batons and whips made of various tools.

– Usual torture methods include the use of electric shocks on the back, groin and neck and causing burns. For example, if a prisoner has a tattoo depicting Ukrainian symbolism, the prison guards may burn the skin by pouring hot liquid over the tattoo.

Those released from the notorious Taganroki remand prison have told about the cruel “reception ceremony”.

In it, the prisoner is beaten with cotton wool or a metal rod on the way to the interrogation room. When the prisoner gets there, he is stripped and interrogated in his underwear.

Women are also abused.

– We have evidence that in the Taganroki remand prison, women have had their hair torn and that their heads have been hit against the wall. We also know that the judge of the Rostov region does not agree to hear complaints about beatings, says Savva.

Ukrainians are also psychologically tortured in Russian prisons, Savva says. For example, prisoners are forced to learn the Russian national anthem and listen to Russian patriotic songs.

Thousands experienced brutal treatment by the Russians

According to Savva, Russia knows that civilians do not have any important information for the war, but it still imprisons and tortures them.

The reason is that Russia can use the false confessions and apologies of psychologically broken Ukrainians in its propaganda work.

If a Ukrainian prisoner tries to complain about his treatment, the Russian authorities invariably ignore the matter.

From Taganrok, located in the Rostov region, it is less than 200 kilometers to the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.

Russia has probably transported thousands of Ukrainians through pre-trial detention centers in the Rostov region during its nearly three-year-long invasion.

– They live in their own wards in complete isolation. Russia does not allow Ukrainians to interact with Russian prisoners. Complete isolation from the outside world is a form of torture.

Sometimes Russia releases Ukrainian civilians in a prisoner exchange. For example, in 2023, Russia released at least 338 Ukrainians.

– This has reportedly happened to the residents of Luhansk and Donetsk region. When they are released, they are forced to sign a document stating that they will not leave the area, Savva says.

If it is a Ukrainian man of legal age, Russia usually forces him to accept Russian citizenship

After release, a person almost always receives an invitation to the Russian army.

The pictures below show Ukrainian citizens whom Russia suspects of terrorist crimes. Some of the Ukrainians in the picture are civilians and some served in the Ukrainian armed forces during their imprisonment. The men in the photos are currently being held by Russia in remand prisons in the Rostov region. The photos were published by the photo agency AOP.