DIGNITY and partners organize a side event on the recent report on torture in Ukrainian places of detention under Russian occupation – online participation is possible
DIGNITY and our partners invite to a side event at the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting II at the Hofburg in Vienna, Austria on April 24th, at 12:30 (CET).
The report “Nine Circles of Hell”: Places of Detention in Ukraine under the Russian Occupation”, covering the period from February to December 2022, will be presented and distributed at the event.
The side event is organized by DIGNITY – Danish Institute against Torture and Ukraine without Torture in cooperation with the European Prison Litigation Network, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, and Protection for Prisoners of Ukraine.
In the year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, a constant flow of images and accounts has painted a horrifying picture of the human rights violations and international crimes that appear to be strategies of Russia’s war. At the same time, relatively little information has emerged from the occupied parts of Ukraine.
The “Nine Circles of Hell” report fills this gap by presenting the findings of the monitoring and documentation of human rights and other violations of international law committed in places of detention in the non-government-controlled areas of Ukraine between March and December 2022.
The report covers a wide range of places of detention, notably penitentiary institutions (correctional colonies and pre-trial detention centers), police establishments and social institutions. In addition, it covers unofficial places of detention such as makeshift torture chambers. Within these places of detention, the report documents numerous violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, wilful killings and military strikes. Building on 725 documented episodes, the report outlines key patterns and trends.
Speakers at the side event:
- Moderator and speaker: Therese Maria Rytter, Legal Director, DIGNITY – Danish Institute against Torture and Vice-President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)
- Vadym Chovgan, Legal Advisor, DIGNITY – Danish Institute against Torture
- Yaroslav Sydorov, torture survivor, former prisoner (participation via Zoom)
- Hanna Skrypka, Legal Advisor, Protection for Prisoners of Ukraine
- Kostiantyn Avtukhov, Executive Director, Ukraine without Torture
- Valery Gretz, torture survivor, NPM monitor (participation via Zoom)
- Hanna Ovdienko Legal Advisor, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (participation via Zoom)
- Dmitry Gurin Senior Legal Advisor, European Prison Litigation Network
Registration:
Participation online is available. Participation in person is available only for the participants who registered for the conference with the OSCE (the registration is closed). Please fill in the form if you would like to participate in the event. The registered online participants will be able to ask questions and provide comments during the streaming.
Simultaneaous interpretation in English and Ukrainian.
Contact person: Veronika Cherkez, Ukraine without Torture, ncherkez5@gmail.com
