Russia - threadbanned users in OP

In territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine, OHCHR identified a pattern of sexual violence perpetrated in places of detention against individuals perceived to be a part of, or affiliated with armed groups, in order to punish and humiliate them, and / or extract confessions from them.

The victims were mostly young and middle-aged men, threats were directed at female members of their families; at times the perpetrators even detained female family members for a short time, to exert pressure on the male detainees. In most cases, such threats were used to force the victim to “confess” or otherwise cooperate with the investigators, security or military actors. In many cases, sexual violence amounted to torture, causing severe physical pain and mental suffering. Rape, threats of rape, beatings and electrocution of genitals were often used as an interrogation technique. Such violations most often perpetrated against individuals, mainly men, detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and volunteer battalions

2014, members of the “Azov” battalion, who claimed to be acting upon the orders of SBU, abducted a woman near her house in Zaporizhzhia region. They subjected her to threats and torture which lasted for four to five hours. Her captors, who were all masked, bound her hands and legs with zip ties tightened by a metal chain, beat her with their feet and with the butts of their guns and forced needles under her nails. She was also subjected to the ‘swallow’ torture method. One of her captors threatened to gang rape her by subjecting to oral and vaginal penetration. One of the perpetrators, believed by the victim to be an SBU officer, ordered him to stop. The victim was released on the same day.

69. A medical volunteer for the armed groups of the ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ was detained by Ukrainian forces in July 2014 along with four other individuals. She and another female detainee were regularly threatened with rape, and were once ordered to undress and interrogated by male soldiers while standing naked and blindfolded. On 2 August 2014, the woman was released.64 70. A man arrested by Ukrainian forces in November 2014 while visiting his family on the Government-controlled part of Donetsk region, was subjected to electroshocks (with wires attached to his fingers and genitals), mock executions, and threatened with rape and being cut into pieces.

On 12 September 2016, a woman who was travelling via one of the transport corridors in Donetsk region was told by an officer at the entry-exit checkpoint that there was a problem with her permit and was referred to a coordination centre at the checkpoint. An officer put her passport aside, asked her to enter the container with him, after which he closed the window and locked the door. He told her he had noticed her a month before and liked her, and had therefore intentionally made an error while renewing her permit. He then ordered that she should go with him to a hotel and that she would otherwise be kidnapped and buried alive. He then forced her to sit on his lap and touched, smelled and licked her whole body. She was crying and begging him to let her go. After one hour and a half, he agreed to release her on the condition that she would return to the checkpoint, threatening her with blackmail and physical violence. The victim agreed so that he would set her free. She immediately sought to report the case. OHCHR assisted the victim in filing a complaint to the police.79 As of 15 January 2017, there had been no progress in the investigation into the incident.

on 17 October 2015, a couple was attacked by two drunken soldiers from the 92nd brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kalanchak, Kherson region. As a result, the woman’s arm was broken. On 5 December 2015, her property was attacked by intoxicated members of the ‘Aidar’ battalion (some of them armed), reportedly involved in the ‘civil blockade’ of Crimea.80 On 18 December 2015 the same perpetrators attacked the woman on the street, chased her and beat her, saying “dirty sexual words”.

The police did not take any measures on the filed complaint and, according to the victim, they were afraid to protect her for fear of antagonizing the perpetrators

November 2015, in the centre of Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region, three drunken men claiming to be military officers entered a café and attacked a man as he was video-recording. They insulted a pregnant woman - who was in the café with a female friend – after she asked them to stop. As the two women left, they were followed by two of the ‘military’ men. One of them kicked the pregnant women in the stomach despite her pleas that she was pregnant. He then forced her to the ground, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her along the ground causing her severe pain; he also slapped her friend in the head several times. Reportedly, the perpetrators were members of the special patrol police battalion ‘Storm’.