On the territory of a Belarusian state-owned enterprise, the Russian army organized a filtration camp where Ukrainians were held in the spring of 2022
Kyiv • UNN
On the territory of the Belarusian State Enterprise "Pripyat alliance" in narovlya, the Russian Federation organized a filtration camp. Ukrainian military and civilians were held and tortured there from March to May 2022.
the Russian army has set up a filtration camp where captured Ukrainians were tortured at the beginning of a full-scale invasion on the territory of the Belarusian State Enterprise Pripyat alliance in the town of narovlya near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. This is stated in the investigation of "schemes "(the Ukrainian edition of Radio Liberty), the" Belarusian investigative center", the Belarusian edition of Radio Liberty and with the support of the war crimes Documentation Project The Reckoning Project and the hacker group" Cyberpartisans", writes UNN.
Details
It is noted that the camp, to which the Russian military took both Ukrainian military and civilians – in particular, children – operated at least from March to May 2022.
Journalists managed to establish the exact location of the filtration camp in Narovla thanks to the analysis of satellite images of that period, Russian videos with prisoners, testimonies of former prisoners and data obtained from hackers.
According to human rights activists, interrogations, beatings, threats and other abuse of prisoners in the filtration camp in Narovlya can be qualified as an international criminal offense. As well as the actions of the Belarusian authorities, which allowed the Russian army to place such a detention center on the territory of a sovereign state. Alexander Lukashenko did not answer journalists ' questions about the filtration camp in Belarus.
The point where the captured Ukrainian military and civilians were held was located on the site of the Belarusian State Enterprise "Pripyat Alliance", which is part of the structure of the "Republican Union of consumer societies of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus".
Former prisoners interviewed by journalists recalled that the place of their detention was a building similar to a "collective farm", an agricultural enterprise.
Analysis of several videos shown on Russian television and published by the Russian military themselves confirmed the presence of military equipment on the territory and helped identify elements of the camp – for example, a building with a dilapidated roof, tents and Kamaz trucks with the letters V.
According to satellite images from Planet Labs, the Russian military was there at least until the beginning of May 2022. When the Armed Forces of Ukraine occupied the Kiev region, it is obvious that the routes of transportation of prisoners changed, the investigation says.
Journalists asked for a comment to the company "Pripyat alliance".
The director of the enterprise Zinaida Mirutenko refused to answer the question and advised to contact the Executive Committee of the city of Narovlya. The chairman of the Narovlyansky executive committee, Vladimir Antonenko, who is also a former soldier from the Security Service of Alexander Lukashenko, heard that a journalist of the Belarusian investigative center was calling, said that she was "wrong", and hung up.
The investigation also publishes for the first time unique footage that Radio Liberty journalists received at their disposal – a video from the action camera of a Russian military man, which was found in the territory of the Kiev region. The video, taken on the morning of February 24, 2022, shows a column of Russian troops from Belarus entering the territory of Ukraine, in the Chernobyl area.
Later, the camera of the Russian military also caught footage of captured Ukrainian soldiers in the Kiev region.
Subsequently, these soldiers, among other prisoners, could be seen on the territory of the Belarusian "Pripyat alliance" in Narovl in the NTV propaganda story.
After the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian human rights defenders and journalists began to receive numerous testimonies that the Russian army had set up a filtration camp in the town of narovlya in Belarus, where captured Ukrainians – both civilian and military-were taken. Some human rights activists call this camp one of the most cruel in relation to prisoners. According to former prisoners and their relatives, who were interviewed by journalists, prisoners were severely interrogated and beaten.,
According to the lawyers of the Ukrainian-American project The Reckoning Project, the actions of the Russian military, who took the civilian population, including minors, to Narovlya, can be considered a violation of the norms of the Geneva Convention. According to lawyers, the actions of the Belarusian authorities can also be qualified as an international crime. After all, it allowed the Russian army to place a filtration point on the territory of a sovereign state.
