(Reuters) -Returning Ukrainian prisoners of war believe their treatment by Russia while in captivity broke the Geneva Conventions, Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said on Monday.
She said some former prisoners had reported that they had been kept in basements, denied food and made to take off their uniforms.
Reuters could not independently verify her assertions. Russia did not immediately respond to Denisova’s comments.
“Russia flagrantly violates the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War. These facts were confirmed during the last liberation of Ukrainian citizens from enemy captivity,” Denisova wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“They were kept in a field, in a pit, in a garage. They were periodically taken out one at a time: they beat them to make examples of them, fired near their ears and intimidated them.”
The Geneva Conventions establish international legal standards for conduct of armed conflicts and seek to limit their humanitarian impact. Denisova said the Russian actions violated article 13 of the conventions, which calls for humane treatment of prisoners of war.
(Reporting by Max Hunder, Writing by Alessandra Prentice,Editing by Tomasz Janowski)