Journalists unveil torture camp in Belarus set up for Ukrainians, including children

At the start of Russia’s all-out war, the Russian occupying army established a filtration camp on the premises of a Belarusian state enterprise, where Ukrainians were detained and tortured, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Investigations have uncovered a network of filtration camps established by Russian forces in Ukraine and Belarus, where Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians endure severe human rights abuses, including torture. Reports indicate that these camps are designed to extract information from detainees, many of whom are accused of resisting Russian occupation or labeled as spies, often resulting in forced disappearances. Survivors of Russian and Belarusian filtration camps describe overcrowded conditions, inadequate sanitation, and an atmosphere of fear and violence in such places. The existence of this camp in Belarus was uncovered in an investigation by journalists from the Schemes Project (Radio Svoboda’s Ukrainian service), the Belarusian Investigative Center, Radio Svoboda’s Belarusian service, with support from The Reckoning Project for documenting war crimes, and the "Cyber Partisans" hacker group. Journalists identified the exact location of the filtration camp in Belarus using testimonies from former detainees, Russian propaganda videos, satellite imagery, and data obtained by hackers. The camp was set up on the premises of a building belonging to the Belarusian state enterprise Prypiatsky Alliance in Naroulia, near the Belarus-Ukraine border. It operated from at least March to May 2022, detaining both military personnel and civilians, including children. According to the investigation, human rights defenders received numerous reports that the camp in Naroulia was among the most brutal in its treatment of prisoners. Former captives and their relatives recalled severe beatings and harsh interrogations. Radio Svoboda journalist Dmytro Dzhulai estimates that hundreds of Ukrainian civilians may have been taken to Naroulia by Russian forces. “Civilians were transported from the Hostomel Airport in several groups. It happened from early to mid-March and again when the Russians retreated from Kyiv Oblast. Every person from these so-called ‘groups’ reported stopping in Belarus,” he explained. Currently, some Ukrainians who passed through the filtration camp at Prypiatsky Alliance in Naroulia still remain in captivity, many held in Russian "correctional" colonies.

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