Accounts of torture
The detainees were often interrogated in the Balakliia police station, and it appears that torture was routine. The four interrogation rooms were located on the same floor of the right wing of the police station. A woman who was held in the women’s cells said she could hear what was happening in the interrogation rooms at night. She recalls that there were constant screams during interrogation.
In the collected testimonies, the female survivors did not report being subject to torture or mistreatment. However, some witnesses testified that women were interrogated, assuming that interrogations may have included mistreatment and possible sexual violence. Further investigation is necessary to conclude on this issue.
A survivor recalled a soldier named Murat, who would come at night and intimidate women.
“He was wearing a black plastic mask with small holes and no slits for his eyes and mouth. He was an actor: he could speak both pure Russian and with a Caucasian accent so that no one would recognise him. He always came to the cell in this mask or balaclava, but only at night.”
One of the survivors recalled that the interrogation or torture chamber looked like an ordinary office, with a window and a desk. There were three soldiers in the office. One with a stun gun, a buff or collar pulled down on his face.
A survivor said the same person referred to by his colleagues as the “investigator” asked questions during interrogations. Each group of interrogators had its investigator, who came on specific days. An FSB officer called “Robinson” could also be present at the interrogations, asking questions and functioning as the investigator.
The questions concerned the detainee's connection with the Ukrainian armed forces or other residents who were suspected of such connections. As torture tools, the Russian soldiers used electric shocks with a so-called tapik (TAPYK or TA), which is a military field telephone. It is a dynamo machine with a manual drive that generates voltage for the device. Bare wires were connected from the tapik to the person’s fingers or genitals.
Another survivor reported that he was taken out for interrogation three times during his detention. The interrogation was conducted by an FSB officer wearing a balaclava and glasses. The uniform was light green with dark spots and looked like French camouflage. Two wires that came from the tapik were attached to his fingers:
“They hit me оn the thighs with а police baton, in the ribs. They hit me on the back with а rifle butt. They tied my hands behind my back, threw my head back to the floor and stepped оn my feet with boots. If you were not screaming or moaning, they made it even more painful. They tortured me with а stun gun. An FSB officer with the call sign “Robinson” was present at the third interrogation.”
Another torture survivor recalls:
“It was after lunch, closer to the evening. They took us to an interrogation with bags over our heads. We could pull the bottom of the bag down to see where we were going. We were taken out of the cell to the right through a small corridor and to the left into the interrogation room. They took us to the same office. They took us past the dining room, then the shower. I could tell by the smells from the dining room and the humidity from the shower. All this was on the same floor.
In the interrogation room, the bag was pulled even lower. They gave me two wires, one with a ring that they put on my finger, the other, bare, had to be held with the other hand. When I took them, they asked my name and where I worked. I felt an electric shock – 5 seconds. One wire fell out. The current was supplied from a field telephone (tapik). I guessed by the sound since there is one in the unit. To my left, there was a man who beat me with a police baton. He handed me the wire: “If you drop it, we will beat you.”
Another victim kept and tortured at the same station, told:
“A bag was put on my head, and I was taken to the first floor. I walked up the stairs, not far from the main exit. I was taken to an office on the left along the corridor, the windows facing the yard. After that, the guard left. Two FSB officers wore black uniforms and black masks in the office. They wore no gloves and no machine guns. However, they had pistols. One man was tall, about 185 cm, the other about 175-176 cm.”
The victim was beaten with a baton in his arms and legs and tortured with an electric shocker, being accused of being a spotter (“korrektirovshchik”). He survived but testified about the torture of another man, who was later reported as deceased, while being held at the station.
According to the testimony, an FSB officer had used an electric shocker and a baton during the interrogation of the other victim, striking him several times on his body and legs. An officer took the man outside with a bag over his head. When the officer returned alone, he was carrying the same bag. Later, other detainees were told that the man had hanged himself by unbuttoning his sweater and hanging it on the door of the cell. They were, however, convinced the man died because of the torture.
Another survivor told how four guards brought a person to his cell. The person was thrown to the concrete floor. He was beaten, but the handcuffs were not removed. He moaned for an hour and a half, asked for water, and took some sips. Twenty minutes later, he wheezed and died.
The methods described above are just some of the examples of torture inflicted upon residents during the time of occupation of Balakliia.