It is now the second day of a conference in Montreal on the release of prisoners and the return of deportees.
Prisoner of war Maxim Kolesnikov, who spent ten months in captivity, said that they were beaten and not given food in captivity. The prisoners were also forbidden to communicate with each other and were forced to stand for hours.
Kolesnikov called for fighting for the release of his brother, whose life is in danger.
The wife of captured Crimean journalist Vladislav Yesipenko, Ekaterina< /b>, said that he was tortured with electricity. The Russians detained Yesipenko before the full-scale invasion, in March 2021.
“This winter marks the end of his fourth year of illegal detention. After his arrest, he was tortured with electric shocks to extract false testimony,” she said.
Ukrainian paramedic Yulia Payevskaya (Tayra), who spent three months in captivity, was also tortured with electric shocks – this was a method of “beating out” false testimony.
“It's when your muscles are too tense. When your back is arched like a bow. It's when your joints feel like they're bending in the opposite direction, when your ligaments are about to break. When you can't breathe, your heart is beating so fast that it's about to stop. It's when you scream, scream, scream, and it lasts for hours,” she said.
In addition, Tyra spoke about other abuses that the enemy uses against Ukrainians, in particular, depriving prisoners of vital medicine and creating terrible conditions of detention.
“The Red Cross hasn't reached anyone I've spoken to in these almost three years of war. It hasn't reached me either. Perhaps there are people who could organize a normal alternative to the International Red Cross, which would finally reach our prisoners and check the conditions of detention of both civilians and soldiers,” she concluded.
- Ministerial Conference on human dimension of the formula of peace is the largest event dedicated to humanitarian issues. Yesterday, delegates from countries and international organizations spoke at the event. According to the Office of the President, about 70 representatives took part in the event. The goal is to formulate an action plan to ensure all stages of the return of prisoners and deportees.