160. Detention and interrogation
Starobesheve (Donetsk)
LOCATION: Starobesheve (Donetsk)
DATE: April 19-April 20, 2022
NUMBER OF WITNESSES: 1
SUMMARY: While undergoing filtration after leaving Russian-occupied Maeriupol, the Witness was interrogated, fingerprinted, and informed of a criminal case had been opened against him in Donetsk in 2016. The Witness then spent a day in a temporary holding cell at the Starobesheve police station before seeing the court order stating that he owed utility payments for an apartment he had not occupied since 2014. The Witness was released and sent to Donetsk to “resolve the issue.”
WITNESSES
The Witness of the incident was a male civilian in his late 40s and a Ukrainian civil society activist. The Witness was staying in Mariupol at the time of the invasion.
VICTIMS
The Victim of the incident was the Witness mentioned above.
ALLEGED PERPETRATORS
as described by the Witness(es)
The perpetrators included representatives of the internationally unrecognized “Donetsk People’s Republic” and police officers who worked at the station where the witness was detained. The officers appeared to be in their mid-30s to early 50s.