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A Wall Street Journal investigation reveals orders of brutality from the upper echelons of Russian power against Ukrainian prisoners of war. Testimony at the International Criminal Court confirms organised and systematic abuse

Since the first weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the elite units of the Russian special forces assigned to the custody of Ukrainian prisoners of war have been ordered to act with extreme cruelty and without mercy. This directive, which started from the prison directorate in St. Petersburg, was replicated in other regions under Russian control, outlining a system of systematic violence.

As reconstructed by the Wall Street Journal, General Igor Potapenko summoned his men to the regional headquarters to inform them of the new way of treating prisoners: no rules, no limits to violence. Torture reported by witnesses included prolonged electric shocks to the genitals, beatings so intense they broke the batons, repeated blows to the same areas to prevent wounds from healing and cause infections. Denial of medical care led in some cases to gangrene and amputation of limbs, with at least one prisoner dying of septicaemia.

Three witnesses – two former members of the special forces and a doctor – confirmed these abuses to the International Criminal Court, which issued six arrest warrants, including one against Vladimir Putin, already indicted for the forced transfer of Ukrainian minors to Russia.

The prison guards, always hooded to remain anonymous, punished even the direct gaze of the prisoners. Their rotation was limited to one month, to avoid being identified later. In parallel, in the first months of the war, an official order ordered the eviction of entire wards of Russian prisons to make room for Ukrainian prisoners of war, thus confirming the planning and systematic nature of the violence.

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