In Kherson region, occupants kept children in cells for weeks - ombudsman

Russian invaders who occupied Kherson region threw people into prison cells, abused them, tortured, humiliated, raped, maimed them, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said on Facebook.

According to him, the abuse of the local population was very cruel. He admits that the residents of Kherson Region were subjected to more brutal methods of torture than in those regions that used to be under temporary occupation - Kharkiv, Kiev and Chernihiv regions.

Lubinets stressed that all those who expressed a pro-Ukrainian stance, women, men and children, were thrown into the basements by the Russians:

Torture, beatings, sexual violence, men and women were kept together. Moreover, they were not let out for weeks. Even women had to go to the toilet in front of men, and men in front of women

According to Lubinets, video cameras were installed in each cell, through which prisoners were monitored. The occupants also heard everything they said. The ombudsman stressed that people who were tortured understood this, because as soon as Kherson residents started talking about occupation and occupants, people in masks ran into cells and were brutally beating them all.

He noticed that children were held separately:

There was a separate cell where teenagers were kept. We are now establishing their ages. People tell us that some of the boys looked about 14 years old. In other areas we did not find cells for children or teenagers

Lubinets said that in terms of International Humanitarian Law, there has been a deterioration in the treatment of Ukrainian civilians:

To me it looks like when Russian representatives saw people with a pro-Ukrainian outlook, it provoked them even more to resort to extremely cruel treatment of the local population. This is not just intimidation. The aim is to break Khersonians so that they are afraid, silent, do not go to rallies where they voice their affiliation to Ukraine. This is an obvious suppression of public resistance with elements of war crimes against humanity

Lubinets said that the executioners hid their faces behind masks, but it is already known that Kherson residents were tortured by representatives of the ROSGVARDIA and members of the Russian army.