Russian Captain to be Tried for Kherson Torture
At least 68 victims are listed as having undergone cruel and abusive treatment while illegally detained.
Also see
Pursuing Russian Propagandists
Activist groups want arrest warrants issued for key figures inciting hatred against Ukrainians in the Russian media.
Tuesday, 16 Jul ‘24
This week’s overview of key events and links to essential reading.
A Russian captain is to go on trial for ordering the detention and torture of civilians during the occupation of the southern city of Kherson in 2022.
According to the investigation, Vladimir Poluektov, 39, ordered and perpetrated the cruel treatment of civilians in the eight-month occupation of the southern districts of the city.
Russian forces entered the strategically important port in the first days of the all-out invasion, moving north from occupied Crimea. Kherson then had about 300,000 residents, of which only an estimated 71,000 remain today.
Russians captured a large part of the Kherson region and established full control over the city on March 1, 2022. They set up torture chambers in buildings across the city, where residents were physically abused and psychologically pressured to extract information about pro-Ukrainian activists and opponents of the occupation authorities.
One of the interrogation chambers was located on 3 Teploenergetykiv Street, in the premises of a police detention centre. The building was occupied on March 9, 2022: according to the investigation, it was captured for the sole purpose of imprisonment, physical violence and torture of civilians.
After the liberation of Kherson in November 2022, investigators found evidence of torture in the premises, including rubber batons, bats, plastic ties and the so-called tapik, a field telephone device that can be used to inflict electric shocks
Suspilne Kherson reported local resident Roman Baklazhov describing being kept in an isolation cell for two months, tortured and threatened with deportation to the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), where he would be shot.
"I was electrocuted. There were burns. How was the interrogation? They started asking me questions and I answered. They would say “You're lying to me” [using an obscene word], it was their standard phrase, no matter what you’d say to them. And they went on to electrocute me,” Baklazhov said. His case is currently being considered by the Kherson city court.
There are at least five indictments for crimes committed in the temporary detention centre currently pending in court. The pre-trial investigation established that from March to October 2022, more than 200 civilians were held there. Both male and female civilians were subjected to beating, torture and sexual violence. Two men were reportedly tortured to death. The police assessed that some 500 people may have passed through the torture chamber.
The case against Poluektov, who hails from Russia’s southern region of Stavropol, was brought to court in July. From April to June 2022, he was reportedly in charge of a unit of Russian Guards who illegally kept people in detention. Investigators reported that during this time the serviceman, together with accomplices, conspired to keep at least 68 civilians in the premises. Under his orders people were placed in isolation cells where they were beaten with fists, feet, rubber batons, butts from machine guns, and tortured with electric shocks.
Kept in overcrowded cells, people suffered from hunger, as food was only dispensed once a day or once over several days. They were deprived of sleep and medical assistance. Detainees were also forced to hear the screams of people being tortured.
According to the suspicion, in June 2022 Poluektov ordered the brutal treatment of two civilians held in cell number 10. He told a subordinate to use physical violence on the male detainees. They were ordered to do push-ups, and when they were exhausted and could not continue, they were kicked and forced to stand up.
The investigation substantiated the suspicion, issued in absentia on June 1, 2024, with evidence, including the interrogation protocols of the victims and photo identification. Poluektov is thought to be in Ukraine’s occupied territories and is on the list of individuals wanted by the police.
The Kherson city court summoned the accused and scheduled the first preliminary hearing for July 25, 2024. There are 68 victims listed in the case; the personal data of six of them have been changed in the official files for their personal security. If found guilty of violating the laws and customs of war under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the criminal code Poluektov can be sentenced to between eight and twelve years of imprisonment.
