International Criminal Court is investigating torture of Ukrainian prisoners by Russians

Yuriy Belousov, the head of the Department for Countering Crimes Committed in Conditions of Armed Conflict of the Prosecutor General's Office, said that one of the directions of the ICC's investigation is the torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians in places of detention in temporarily occupied territories and Russia.

He told this in an interview with Ukrinform, Rubryka reports.

"From what I can tell now, this is one of the directions of our cooperation. The first direction was the deportation of Ukrainian children. And the ICC continues to investigate this case. The second direction was attacks on the energy infrastructure.

Another direction that will gain momentum is torture and ill-treatment in places of detention. We are working with the ICC, so hopefully, we will have good results. I don't know when exactly they will be, but it is definitely in the focus of attention of the ICC," he said.

According to Belousov, the International Criminal Court became interested in this issue because torture in places of detention is becoming systematic and shows the relevant policy of Russia.

He also confirmed that the ICC will soon issue arrest warrants for those responsible for penal institutions in the Russian Federation.

"Yes, we can assume," Belousov said.

He also said that in cases of torture of prisoners of war and civilians, the Ukrainian investigation would be divided into entities involved in the organization of this system in Russia.

"The ICC will take the highest leadership, and we will take a little lower and further. We will not focus only on the executors. It will also be the higher military-political leadership. Heads of institutions, heads of departments that coordinate this activity, security service or the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments and above are in our field of vision," Belousov said.

It should be noted that at the beginning of June, Brenda Hollis, head of the ICC investigation into Ukraine, reported that ICC employees were identifying locations where representatives of the Russian Federation brutally tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians.

On June 25, the ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Serhii Shoigu, the Secretary of the Russian Federation's security council, and Valeriy Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation's armed forces.

Shoigu and Gerasimov are suspected of war crimes in the form of attacks on civilian objects, causing excessive accidental damage to the civilian population or damage to civilian objects, as well as crimes against humanity.

In addition, on March 5, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the commander of Russia's long-range aviation, Sergey Kobylash, and the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Viktor Sokolov. As noted, the corresponding decision was approved within the framework of the investigation of potential war crimes committed by the Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine in the period from October 10, 2022, to March 9, 2023.