‘This Evil Must Be Defeated’: Systematic Russian Torture

Oleh Kotov is on his deathbed, and he knows it. In the final days of his life, Svitlana, his wife, administers his last meal through a tube inserted into his stomach. The once vibrant 59-year-old man, now emaciated, sits on the edge of his bed, gasping for every breath. Oleh Kotov speaks in short sentences, his voice raspy, "This is the evil." Since his release from Russian captivity, he has endured relentless agony, brought upon by systematic torture at the hands of Russian forces.

Prior to his release, Oleh remained voiceless about his suffering, mistaking his ailment for a persistent case of pneumonia. However, upon his return, the truth emerged – a metastatic cancer that had spread throughout his body. His wife recalls a photograph from before the Russian invasion, showing Oleh and Svitlana smiling carefree, a stark contrast to the present.

The Russian occupation had begun in their village when Oleh was still in the street, with his neighbors. They were taken away by 15 men in fancy cars, interrogated, and stripped of their electronic devices. At the train station, the torture started, with Oleh being forced into the infamous "Little Star" position, enduring brutal punches and electric shocks. The tormentors, seemingly experts in violence, subjected him to this horrific ordeal, claiming it was for suspected disloyalty to the occupying regime.

The conditions in these secret prison cells are dire, with no legal counsel, no communication with relatives, and no accessible information about the prisoners. The OSCE report on the abduction of civilians in Russian-occupied territory reveals that the arbitrary deprivation of liberty is occurring on a massive scale, targeting Ukrainian civilians as part of filtration programs based on loyalty to the occupying regime.

This systematic violence against civilians is a crime against humanity, characterized by a high degree of organization and a deliberate pattern of behavior specifically targeting Ukrainian civilians. Oleh Kotov's story is not an isolated case, but rather a grim reminder of the systematic and deliberate actions of the Russian occupation forces.