Maksym Butkevych, a Ukrainian human rights defender and journalist turned soldier, has detailed his experience of torture, threats, and a 'Kafkaesque' court process during over two years of Russian captivity. He describes beatings, threats of execution and sexual violence, forced confessions to fabricated war crimes, and appalling prison conditions, highlighting Russia's systemic mistreatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Ukrainian held by Russia describes torture, sinister threats and Kafkaesque court process
UkraineRussiaWorld
AI Summary
TL;DR: Key points with love ❤️Maksym Butkevych, a Ukrainian human rights defender and journalist turned soldier, has detailed his experience of torture, threats, and a 'Kafkaesque' court process during over two years of Russian captivity. He describes beatings, threats of execution and sexual violence, forced confessions to fabricated war crimes, and appalling prison conditions, highlighting Russia's systemic mistreatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Trending- 1 2022 (early months of the war): Maksym Butkevych was taken prisoner by Russian forces on the eastern frontline in Ukraine.
- 2 October 17 (last year, unspecified year, likely 2024): Maksym Butkevych was exchanged for Russian prisoners held by Ukraine, after more than two years in captivity.
- Physical and psychological trauma for Butkevych
- Highlights systemic mistreatment and torture of Ukrainian POWs by Russia
- Contributes to the body of evidence against Russia's actions in Ukraine
- Continued holding of 8-10,000 Ukrainians by Russia
What: Maksym Butkevych, a Ukrainian human rights defender and journalist who volunteered as a soldier, recounted his experience of torture, sinister threats, forced confessions to fabricated war crimes, and a 'Kafkaesque' court process during over two years of Russian captivity.
When: Early months of the war in Ukraine (2022, capture), October 17 last year (release/exchange), over two years (captivity duration).
Where: Ukraine (eastern frontline), Russia (captivity, penal colony), Luhansk (unfinished building, prison, ministry of state security, penal colony), Kyiv (Butkevych's location on alleged crime day), Poland, Germany (where soldiers' wives were).
Why: Russian forces aimed to extract coerced 'confessions' for imaginary crimes, undermine morale, and deflect responsibility for their own actions (e.g., shelling a village and blaming Ukrainian POWs). The mistreatment reflects Russia's view of humans as 'disposable material' and its desire to bring this 'Russian world' to Ukraine.
How: Butkevych was subjected to physical abuse (kicks, punches, beatings with a wooden stick, rubber baton), stress positions, threats of execution and sexual violence (including with an electric shock baton), psychological torment, and forced to sign a confession to a crime he did not commit. He then underwent a sham legal process, including a court of appeal and cassation, where his lawyer's evidence of his innocence was ignored.