Nobel Prize winner says Russian medics torture Ukrainian prisoners

Ukrainian human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk has referred to as for pressing worldwide motion following a report alleging that Russian medical personnel participated within the torture of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of struggle. Matviichuk heads the Center for Civil Liberties, which shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize with Russian human rights organisation Memorial and Belarusian campaigner Ales Bialiatski.

The report, titled Anatomy of Torture, alleges that medical personnel denied important therapy, used tasers in opposition to detainees and inflicted pro-Russian inscriptions on a prisoner’s pores and skin. “We want to share this information to put pressure on Russia in order to save lives, because people are dying. People are dying,” Matviichuk advised Metro.

“Their conditions are inhuman and the treatment is beyond human imagination.” She described the testimony of a former detainee who stated he encountered medical personnel solely as soon as throughout his imprisonment, after shedding consciousness whereas being tortured. “The Russian medics were invited to give an injection and to return him to consciousness, to provide the opportunity to continue the torture process,” she stated. Matviichuk additionally cited a Ukrainian soldier who reportedly awoke after surgical procedure to find that the phrases “Glory to Russia” had been carved into his pores and skin with a surgical instrument.

“Now this person, after returning to Ukraine as a result of prisoner exchange, is going through the process of removing this slogan from his body,” she stated. “It’s a very painful and long-lasting process.” She argued that the alleged abuses have been systemic, pointing to testimonies gathered over 12 years since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014.

“We interviewed people who returned from the prisons, but we also interviewed people who get information from people who are close to them – their relatives, their families, who are still under occupation,” she stated. “We analyse open data with other verifications, draw a lot of information about different signs of captivity in video, in social networks. And Russians are very brutal. They are not even hiding their crimes.”

The report was written by 4 consultants on the Center for Civil Liberties with help from the UK Government. Several testimonies described a medical employee in Russia’s Republic of Mordovia whom detainees referred to as “Doctor Evil”. One former prisoner alleged that the physician struck detainees earlier than asking about their signs.

“Your eyes are closed, your head is tilted down, and you can’t see anything. You give him your hand, and he hits you in the hand with a taser. First, he hits you with a taser, and then he gives you a pill,” the individual stated. Another witness alleged that the physician participated in torture and “ensured the person stayed alive”. Ukrainian human rights group KHPG recognized the person as Ilya Sorokin. According to the report, the Security Service of Ukraine charged him in absentia in December 2025.

Matviichuk stated there was “no possibility to physically arrest him because he is in Russia”. She stated a number of submissions had been despatched to the International Criminal Court in The Hague and urged it to “open the case based on these crimes against humanity”. “What must be done is provide the full access of International Committee of Red Cross to all illegally detained civilians and prisoners of the war, and to create a special medics commission to be sent to Russia to work to get access to people,” she stated.

Matviichuk additionally referred to as on medical professionals internationally to problem the alleged practices, arguing that skilled stress may have a “chilling effect” as a result of some exchanges and cooperation with Russia continued.The Center for Civil Liberties and different organisations final week issued an attraction to the World Health Organisation looking for intervention.

The letter stated the WHO had “unique expertise and international capacity to draw attention to violations of the right to health, uphold international standards of medical care, and help ensure that the principles of healthcare and medical ethics remain in force even in situations of armed conflict”. The WHO declined to remark when contacted by Metro.