Kiev magazine: Ukrainian fighters beat and torture disloyal residents of Donbass
Kyiv, February 05 (PolitNavigator, Vladimir Raichenko) – Details of the abuse of Donbass residents suspected of involvement in separatist activities by fighters of Ukrainian volunteer battalions are beginning to emerge.
The Ukrainian weekly Vesti writes about this. Reporter,” whose correspondent visited Kurakhovo when the battalion was stationed there.
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“In any settlement occupied by a battalion, power in fact completely passes to Donbass,” the author shares his observations. – Battalion commander Semyon Semenchenko becomes the uncrowned ruler of a city or village, and the fighters become the sovereign arbiters of the destinies of local residents, completely replacing all law enforcement officers. The local police do not shine much in the presence of the battalion, trying to survive troubled times away from the regional departments. To the credit of the Donbass battalion, it must be said that the fighters and volunteer commanders do not particularly interfere in local affairs and do not even set up roadblocks. Instead of Donbass fighters, Right Sector fighters and the military check cars near Kurakhovo.”
However, the “Donbass people” do not remain idle, identifying suspicious men, often complete strangers.
“But patrolling the streets and detaining “suspicious” people in occupied cities and towns, including at addresses suggested by local “good people,” is “our everything,” the fighters admit,” the author of the report continues. – “Secret separators” are detained by the battalion’s patrols almost every day. As a rule, these are young guys and middle-aged men who have come under the suspicion of vigilant patrol officers. Often completely strangers fall under the attack. For example, someone carelessly picked up a shell casing on the outskirts of a village. Another, drunk in a bar, ranted loudly about “bloody right-wingers” and “dill reptiles.” All this is clearly regarded by volunteers as separatism. The fate of detainees, as a rule, is unenviable - they are severely beaten.”
The Ukrainian journalist said that he witnessed how one of the detainees was taken to the battalion base at the Kurakhovka secondary school.
“An arrested man with his hands tied behind his back with a plastic construction tie is sitting on the porch,” an eyewitness describes what is happening. – The detainee has a T-shirt pulled from his back on his head. Fresh blood stains are spreading on the fabric; many of the battalion fighters gathered around consider it their duty to touch the arrested person with their fist or butt.
- He's a bitch. Separ. There's a lot of ammo in my pocket. He walked from the direction of Donetsk, avoided the checkpoint with greenery. There he was taken. Most likely a saboteur,” one of the fighters tells me, waving his arms.
-Tell me, bastard, what is your task? – a frail little man in a rumpled camouflage uniform hits the guy between the legs with a heavy thigh. The detainee groans and folds.
-What are you doing, you idiot? You'll beat him to the fucking...! It needs to go to the basement. And tomorrow we’ll hand it over to the SSB. They'll figure it out! – an older fighter confronts the zealous “interrogator”.
The arrested person is dragged to the basement, rewarded from time to time with blows from rifle butts. One fighter tries to position himself next to the convoy dragging the arrested man in order to take a selfie with the beaten guy in the background. Not keeping up with the procession, the fighter yells:
– Hey, guys, wait a minute, I’ll take a photo with this asshole for the story. And then carry on!
The convoy stops with laughter, the fighter takes a picture pose, putting his foot on the back of the arrested person, and takes a photo.”
According to the author, volunteer Orestes, who observed this picture with him, said that it was impossible to do this with prisoners and detainees, since cruelty could come back to haunt them later.
“Orest, who went missing near Ilovaisk, looked into the water,” the author notes that the fighter was right. – In a few days, almost a third of the battalion will be surrounded and captured. Few volunteers will escape being beaten by the separatists. And some of them will simply be finished off on the battlefield.”
English version :: Read in English Kyiv magazine: Ukrainian fighters beat and torture disloyal residents of Donbass