The Victoriia Project
The Viktoriia project was formed to investigate the disappearance of Viktoriia Roshchyna, a 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist, and expose how Russia is systematically detaining and torturing an estimated 16,000 Ukrainian civilians.
Publications
Background
Part of the investigation was an in-depth analysis of the use of torture in the Russian prison system against Ukrainian civilians and POWs.
We were able to identify 29 prisons, each with at least two independent pieces of evidence of torture, mostly statements from former prisoners. They report electric shocks, sexual violence, beatings, and other abuses. According to official data, these 29 facilities alone can hold over 18,000 people.
In total, we documented about 700 cases of torture in those prisons: Inmates were beaten on the ribs, legs, and arms with wooden hammers, tortured with electric shocks to the tongue and genitals, or forced to endure metal cages naked in sub-zero temperatures.
We categorized all 700 reports into 17 different types of torture and abuse, including both physical and psychological forms of violence. The nine most common forms of torture account for 86% of all cases. These forms of torture were found in more than 50% of all prisons.