Zelensky reacts to photos of Syrian torture chambers: “brave” Assad fled to Putin, but where will Putin go?
Kyiv • UNN
The President of Ukraine commented on photos of Syrian prisons after Assad's escape. Zelenskyy drew parallels between the methods of the Assad and Putin regimes, pointing to the similarity of their crimes against humanity.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to horrific photos of Syrian prisons and torture chambers that were opened after Assad's escape, and explained why these images resonate with Ukrainians, UNN reports.
"Brave Assad fled to Putin. Where will Putin run away to? This year's human rights day is accompanied by horrifying photos of Syrian prisons and dungeons that were opened after Assad's flight. People have been humiliated there for years. Men and women. They were beaten, tortured, and raped. Thousands and thousands of people have passed through this factory of violence.
The Assad regime has been based solely on violence for decades. And this is exactly what all the regimes that Putin supports are like. We have seen the same prisons, dungeons, indescribable violence, humiliation, beatings, torture, rape and other crimes on our territory in every locality that was occupied by Russian invaders," Zelensky said.
The president added that Russia is a prison state that can hold someone else's stolen land only thanks to the prisons and dungeons that it places there.
"Since the beginning of the Russian occupation, tanks have always been followed by repression and torture. We first saw this on our land in Crimea in 2014, when the Russian occupation led to repression of the indigenous people, the largest Muslim community in Ukraine – the Crimean Tatars, as well as journalists and politicians. Russia then continued its horrific human rights violations in the occupied Donbas, including the infamous Izolyatsia prison.
Since February 2022, Russia has extended these practices to all other occupied territories. Atrocities have increased in scale and brutality.
That is why we, Ukrainians, are so touched when we see Syrians coming out of Assad's prisons and dungeons," the head of state explained.
According to him, Assad and Putin are not just a vassal and suzerain. They are accomplices in violence. Dictators like Assad cannot survive without dictators like Putin. And Putin will try to avenge the fall of Assad.
"That is why we need unity and strength to stand up to regimes that sow only humiliation and leave behind only suffering, pain and ruin. By helping Ukraine fight the Russian dictatorship, the international community is helping many other regions of the world restore security and achieve protection from violence.
Terrible atrocities and human rights violations must be punished. In fact, only Putin and Assad deserve to be in prison, and not the innocent people they have been incarcerating for years," Zelensky concluded.
