“I can shoot you now if I want, nothing will happen to me.” These glazing words resonate in the testimony of Olena Yahoupova, a Ukrainian who experienced the hell of detention under the Russian occupation.
In his hometown of Kamianka Dniprovska, who borders the Dniepr, Olena’s life changed on October 6, 2022. That day, the FSB searches his home, accusing him of being a “suspicious citizen” because of the her husband’s military service. Five months will follow in inhuman conditions: deprivation of food, absence of hygiene, systematic tortures. The prisoners, forced to sing the Russian anthem for hours, sleep on the icy ground, without heating or light.
On January 18, 2023, his story took on a surreal turning point when a soldier presenting himself under the name of “Batman” organized a macabre staging: a false “expulsion” filmed by Russian propaganda. But instead of being released, Olena is sent to a forced labor camp where she and other prisoners are forced to dig trenches under the bombing for months.
Now free, Olena conducted the investigation with Ukrainian journalists to identify her executioner. It testifies to break the silence on these crimes which continue in 18 % of occupied Ukraine, a territory large as two French regions, where civilians disappear without leaving a trace.
His story, documented by satellite images and Russian propaganda videos, lifts the veil on an oppression system where torture, forced work and violence are used to terrorize the civilian population. A rare and precious testimony on the occupied areas, where the abuses continue far from the looks.