Horror find in Kherson: Ukrainian researchers discovered prisons and torture chambers after the liberation of Kherson. Dozens of men are said to have been held here and electrocuted. Some of them never made it out alive, writes the Guardian.
People were detained in eleven places, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj said on Ukrainian television on Wednesday evening. In four of these places there are indications that prisoners have been tortured. Detectives there secured evidence and questioned witnesses. Bodies would also be exhumed.
The search has only just begun
“So far, 63 bodies have been found in the Kherson region,” Monastyrskyj said. “But we must be aware that the search has only just begun and many more torture chambers and burial grounds remain to be discovered.” Initially, there were no independent confirmations. However, torture chambers and graves of the murdered were also found in the Kiev and Kharkiv regions when they returned to Ukrainian control.
Residents report hearing screams from prisons six weeks after the Russian occupation. People would have been brought in with bags on their heads. “They came out beat up and totally disoriented,” a shopkeeper told The Guardian. Some came out of the buildings alone like corpses in a bag.
Arrested for tattoos and false clothing
As the Washington Post writes, the slightest revolt against the occupiers was punished. Ukrainian tattoos, traditional clothes and the words “Glory to Ukraine” were enough to imprison someone. Although the Russian troops have left Kherson, they leave a trauma for the residents. The fear of another attack remains.
Under pressure from the Ukrainian army, the Russian occupiers evacuated the regional capital Kherson in early November and retreated to the southern bank of the Dnipro River. Many roads and buildings, especially the regional police headquarters, were abandoned by mines, Ukraine’s interior minister said. Ukrainian munitions disposal personnel had already been killed or injured during the defusal of the bombs. (SDA/chs/jwg)