In Simferopol pre-trial detention center No. 2, there is a closed institution of the FSB, which holds citizens of Ukraine captured in the occupied territories. Meduza writes about this in its investigation. These prisoners do not have the status of prisoners of war, their existence is hidden, neither lawyers, nor relatives, nor friends are allowed to see them. Human rights activists call them "hostages".
According to the publication, these are peaceful people, among whom there are volunteers, journalists, former military personnel and officials. In addition to SIZO No. 2, they are also kept in other institutions on the territory of the occupied Crimea, and there are hundreds of such prisoners. Some of them are released without any explanation as to why they were detained or why they were released.
The so-called "SIZO No. 8", judging by the extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, was officially registered in October 2022 at the same address as SIZO No. 2. In it, according to the testimony of the detainees, they were tortured with electric shockers, strangled, beaten and tortured with electric current.
A former prisoner of this institution, Alexander Tarasov, recalls how the FSIN officers mocked him on May 9, 2023. He and several other Ukrainians were required to answer questions about what holiday is celebrated on this day, as well as whether their “grandfathers” “fought”. After any answer, whatever it was, the prisoners were beaten with a shocker. Tarasov's cellmate Sergei Derevensky was kicked and forced to sing the song "Victory Day".
Meduza has found out that criminal cases are being opened against some of the hostages on charges of international terrorism or attempted terrorist attacks. The lawyers also told the publication that in some materials of criminal cases there is a reference to Putin's order, the details of which were not disclosed.
Earlier, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch received new evidence of torture of residents of Ukrainian Kherson by the Russian military during the occupation. They were detained on charges of volunteering or supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and taken to special institutions where they were beaten and humiliated.