Europe's Anti-Torture Body Records Ukrainian Army Abuse Claims in Donbas

The Council of Europe's anti-torture committee has received claims of ill-treatment from Ukrainian Security Service against independence supporters in east Ukraine.

MOSCOW, January 13 (Sputnik) – The Council of Europe's anti-torture committee has received claims of excessive use of force by Ukrainian security against independence supporters in the Donbas region, a report released Tuesday says.

The mission of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) to Ukraine aimed, among other responsibilities, to investigate the treatment of persons detained in Kiev operations against local militia in the Donbas region.

“Some allegations were received of excessive use of force by SBU [Ukraine’s Security Service] officers at the time of apprehension and/or of ill-treatment during subsequent questioning by SBU officers. In addition, a few allegations were heard of excessive use of force by soldiers at the time of apprehension,” the report, released on the results of inspectors’ September visit to Ukraine said.

Torture in Ukraine. Many people come back with fractured skulls. One of the torture tools is an awl, that they… http://t.co/8eXqG8auFQ

— Vladimir Suchan (@SuchanVladimir) 26 декабря 2014

Regarding Kiev military operations in eastern Ukraine, CPT reported that a majority of people who had spoken to the delegation stated Ukrainian troops had treated them “correctly.”

The CPT mission documented no ill treatment cases at detention facilities in Ukraine.

The CPT stressed that its work in Ukraine was complicated by several factors, including a limited number of law enforcement officials available to interview.