Four Ukrainian women who were “arbitrarily” detained in the occupied parts of Donbas are facing serious health risks from torture and lack of medical care, Human Rights Watch reported on July 5th.
Oksana Parshina was pregnant when she was detained in May on suspicion of espionage.
Natalia Statsenko, who has a chronic and painful neurological condition affecting her spine, and Elena Zaitseva, who has had severe bleeding episodes, possibly related to a gynecological condition, have not received medical attention or treatment.
Meanwhile, Olga Mozolevskaya has spent four years in isolated detention after being tortured.
All four remain in the occupants’ custody.
“The torture and other ill-treatment by armed groups is epitomized by their cruel treatment of women in custody,” said Yulia Gorbunova, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“To our knowledge, many detainees are being held incommunicado, in appalling conditions, and without access to a fair legal process or proper medical care.”
Over 130 Ukrainians are currently political prisoners of Russia, according to Ukraine’s Ombudswoman Ludmila Denisova.
Since the war against Russian-led militants in Eastern Ukraine began in 2014, hundreds of Ukrainian civilians have been detained by occupation authorities on charges of espionage or treason.
In most of these cases, detained people or their family members are accused of working for Ukraine’s law enforcement or having pro-Ukrainian views, HRW says.
Occupants often detain or disappear people arbitrarily and don’t provide the detainees’ whereabouts.
“The majority of people unlawfully held by armed groups are men, but we are concerned that women held there are not being given specific medical help and assistance that they need,” Gorbunova told the Kyiv Post.
“Unfortunately, this happens quite often. And some of these cases are truly urgent, literally a matter of life and death”.
