Over the ten years of war, thousands of Ukrainian prisoners have passed through the Kalinin colony in Gorlovka. Among them are military personnel, police officers, Ukrainian activists and volunteers.
National police officers have identified nine more workers at the Kalinin colony in Gorlovka, Donetsk region, where they recorded the torture of Ukrainian prisoners. They are suspected of violating the laws and customs of war.
This was reported by the National Police of Ukraine.
According to the investigation, prisoners have been tortured in the colony since 2104, after the city was occupied by Russians. Before the full-scale invasion, those who disagreed with the regime of the so-called DPR were tortured here, and later Ukrainian prisoners of war were brought here.
“Over the ten years of war, thousands of prisoners passed through the Kalinin colony. Among them were military personnel, police officers, Ukrainian activists, volunteers and other civilians with an active civic position. On average, 1,200-1,500 citizens were held here at a time,” the report says. Before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, those who disagreed with the terrorist regime of the “DPR” were held here, and with the beginning of the active phase of the war, prisoners of war began to be brought in, who, after filtration measures, were taken to other colonies controlled by Russia.
All of them went through the so-called “reception”, when the colony workers throw them out of the escort vehicles and force them to run through a “human corridor” of the occupiers' allowances, who beat them with rubber truncheons, plastic pipes, hands, feet and electric shockers. Dozens of prisoners lost consciousness at this stage.
After that, according to the National Police, the prisoners were stripped naked and had all their personal belongings taken away, were photographed, fingerprinted, and had their DNA and blood collected in completely unsanitary conditions. They were placed in overcrowded barracks with mold on the walls and ceiling. In winter, some of the cells were very cold because there was no glass in the windows.
“During the day, the prisoners were interrogated with rubber truncheons, hit with metal rods, causing their skin to burst, and were subjected to numerous blows to the torso. All this time, the prisoners were morally pressured and told that no one needed them and did not want to exchange them, and that the Russian Federation had already completely captured the territory of Ukraine. The victims were in a complete information vacuum, and therefore believed. colonies – indictments against the previous leaders have already been sent to court. They face life imprisonment.
“In addition, more than five hundred identifications, examinations and more than two hundred investigative experiments were conducted with victims who were returned to Ukraine in exchanges at different times. During this time, the criminals changed several positions, the management and personnel of the colony changed, but the investigators returned to work with victims from earlier exchanges, collected data on the criminals bit by bit and established not only personal data, but also the hierarchy of the terrorist organization operating on the territory of the Kalinin colony,” the National Police noted.
Among the more than 80 identified employees of the colony acting in the interests of the occupation authorities, the police have identified those involved in torture, physical and moral abuse, and inhuman treatment of prisoners of war and civilian hostages of the Kalinin colony. Currently, nine of them have already been declared suspects under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: violation of the laws and customs of war. Materials regarding their atrocities will be transferred to both the national and the International Criminal Court.
Materials are also being prepared regarding the announcement of suspicion to other members of the said terrorist organization. Further investigative measures are being carried out to identify all those involved in torture, physical and moral abuse of Ukrainians.