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From the first days of the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula, the Russians began to strengthen the system of institutions in which prisoners deprived of their liberty are kept. And after the full-scale invasion, such institutions began to be created in the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region. At the same time, places of detention in the Kherson region are not even taken into account in the penitentiary system of the Russian Federation, the fate of the people held there is unknown. The head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov, spoke about this on the FREEDOM TV channel.
According to him, after the occupation, a second pre-trial detention center was built in Simferopol, which can hold hundreds of people.
“The majority of Ukrainian citizens who were illegally detained in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions began to be transferred to the so-called pre-trial detention center-2. This pre-trial detention center-2 is known for its absolute secrecy; people kept there are subjected to torture. It’s very difficult for lawyers to get there,” Chubarov said.
He also spoke about the places of detention of Ukrainians who were illegally detained in the Kherson region.
“Such places are not even included in the system of registered institutions in the penitentiary system. In Chongar, in the Kherson region, there is one such point where dozens of people are being held. And this is absolutely illegal even according to the laws of the aggressor’s country. But people are brought there, some of them stay for months, some for several weeks, until they sign the testimony required by the punitive authorities of Russia,” noted the head of the Mejlis.
Chubarov noted that in the first quarter of 2024, Russian punitive authorities carried out 33 searches and 41 arrests in the territory of occupied Crimea.
“The detainees are in different statuses. Criminal cases were opened against most of them, of course, on falsified charges, usually of terrorism. Of these 41 detainees, 18 are Crimean Tatars, which once again emphasizes the targeted nature of repression against the indigenous people of Crimea,” he said.
The head of the Mejlis added that there is no exact information about the number of detained Ukrainian citizens; their whereabouts are often unknown.
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Let us remind you that Russia is holding at least 7,000 Ukrainian civilians and continues to detain them in the temporarily occupied territories.
