From the BBC:
"Ukraine: Report exposes 'stomach-turning' violence"
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28250981
"Ukraine: Report exposes 'stomach-turning' violence"
Amnesty International says that it
has gathered "graphic and compelling evidence of savage beatings and other
torture" by pro-Russian separatist groups in eastern Ukraine. The human rights group says that protesters and journalists have been
targeted over the last three months. An Amnesty report, Abductions
and Torture in Eastern Ukraine, says that hundreds of people have been
abducted. Pro-government forces also committed a smaller number of abuses, Amnesty
says. Ukraine's military has made significant gains in recent days. "The bulk of the abductions are being perpetrated by armed separatists, with
the victims often subjected to stomach-turning beatings and torture. But there
is also evidence of a smaller number of abuses by pro-Kiev forces," Amnesty's
Deputy Europe and Central Asia Director Denis Krivosheev said. "The time has come to take stock of what has happened, and stop this
abhorrent practice." Amnesty says that while there are no definitive figures on the number of
abductions, the Ukrainian interior ministry has reported nearly 500 cases
between April and June 2014. It says that the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission for Ukraine recorded 222
abduction cases over the last three months. Amnesty International says that a fact-finding team has just returned from
eastern Ukraine where they interviewed torture survivors on both sides of the
conflict. Hanna, a pro-Ukrainian activist, told Amnesty International how she was abducted
by armed men in the eastern city of Donetsk on 27 May. She was held for six days
before being released in a prisoner exchange. "My face was smashed, he punched me in the face with his fist, he was trying
to beat me everywhere, I was covering myself with my hands… I was huddled in the
corner, curled up in a ball with my hands around my knees. He was angry that I
was trying to protect myself. He went out and came back with a knife." Hanna showed the Amnesty researchers scars on her neck, arms and legs where
she said she had "sliced" with a knife. It says that the researchers were provided with a list of more than 100
civilians who have been held captive and that allegations of torture have been
made in most cases. "Abductions have taken place across eastern Ukraine, in the Donetsk and
Luhansk regions," Amnesty says. "Those targeted include not only police, the military and local officials,
but also journalists, politicians, activists, members of electoral commissions
and businesspeople." Amnesty says now that pro-Kiev forces are re-establishing control over areas
of the east "new captives are being released almost daily with an increasing
number of disturbing cases emerging".
Pro-Kiev forces, including self-defence groups, have also been implicated in
the ill-treatment of captives, Amnesty says. One local government official in the south-eastern port of Mariupol told
Amnesty researchers how they heard a captive separatist fighter "wailing in
pain" at the hands of pro-Kiev forces who were "seemingly trying to extract
information about the separatists".
^ Who would have thought that armed militants/rebels with no organization or central leadership would be violent. ANYONE with a thinking brain would! Luckily, the Ukrainian military is making strides in freeing the towns that are besieged so that law and order can be restored. ^
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28250981
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