russia unlawfully deported Ukrainian civilian prisoners from the occupied Ukrainian territory to detention facilities in the russian Federation — under armed control, in inhumane conditions, and in breach of international humanitarian law. DIGNITY, a leading actor in the global fight against torture, reported.
The report ‘Deportation to Hell’ documents the deportation of approximately 1,700 Ukrainian prisoners— Ukrainian citizens and foreign nationals serving custodial sentences at the time of the russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 — from occupied Ukrainian territory to prisons in the russian Federation in November 2022.Throughout the deportation process, prisoners were subjected to physical and psychological ill-treatment and held in inhumane conditions. They described beatings, prolonged stress positions, humiliation, and threats of physical or sexual violence, often because of their nationality and their actual or perceived support for Ukraine.
Prisoners were also forced to abandon personal belongings, including vital medication, and transported in overcrowded vehicles, sometimes alongside prisoners with tuberculosis, without sufficient food, water, sanitation, ventilation or medical care.
The report concludes that this conduct constitutes grave breaches of international humanitarian law likely amounting to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It further indicates that the conduct may also amount to crimes against humanity.
Key findings in the report:
- Approximately 1,700 Ukrainian prisoners were deported from occupied Ukrainian territory to prisons in the russian Federation in November 2022.
- Prisoners were deported without official information and against their will. Interviewees described threats, beatings, overcrowded transport, lack of food, water and toilet access.
- Prisoners were repeatedly offered russian citizenship throughout the deportation process.
- Around 300 deported prisoners remained held in prisons in the russian Federation or remained on russian territory after release without effective means of leaving at the time of the report.
- The report finds that the deportation likely constitutes the war crime of unlawful deportation and may also amount to the crime against humanity of deportation.
The report was prepared in cooperation with the Ukrainian civil society organisations Protection of Prisoners of Ukraine and the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. It documents witness accounts, cross-references open-source evidence, and sets out the legal framework under the Rome Statute.
