
246. Detention and torture of civilian, denial of medical care
Verbove (Zaporizhzhia)
LOCATION: Verbove (Zaporizhzhia)
DATE: March 25 – April 19, 2022
NUMBER OF WITNESSES: 1
SUMMARY: On March 15, 2022, Russian forces detained a male civilian at his home in Verbove, accusing him of being an artillery spotter for Ukrainian forces. He was held captive in multiple locations—the airfield in Melitopol, a pre-trial detention center in Donetsk, a filtration camp in Olenivka, and a penal colony in Kursk, Russia—before his release on April 19 as part of a prisoner exchange. During his captivity, he endured frequent severe beatings, was forced to dig his own grave, was denied medical care, and was held in inhumane conditions.
WITNESSES
The Witness of the incident was a male civilian and resident of Verbove who worked as a teacher and council member.
VICTIMS
The Victims of the incident included the Witness mentioned above as well as many other civilian and military prisoners.
ALLEGED PERPETRATORS
as described by the Witness(es)
Russian forces wearing dark green military uniforms, FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) representatives in blue and gray camouflage uniforms, and an employee of the pre-trial detention center.