Kalinin Penal Colony No. 27

According to testimonies, beatings and coercion were used to extract forced confessions. Former prisoners have reported that those returning from interrogations or court procedures had signs of torture, severe bruising or were unable to walk. In at least one known case, a POW confessed under torture to killing nine civilians.

There is no available information regarding medical care or assistance in Kalinin Penal Colony No. 27.

Psychological abuse appeared to be systematic and closely tied to Russian propaganda narratives. Interrogations focused heavily on the battle for Mariupol, regardless of whether the captured soldier had any relation to the events there. This applied even to those detained in entirely different parts of the front. The aim was to construct a false narrative blaming Ukraine for civilian deaths in Mariupol. Coerced “testimonies” were gathered under duress to support disinformation.

“There are a great number of civilian deaths in Mariupol. Russia wants to blame Ukraine for them – that is obvious. But these testimonies, if they can even be called that, are often extracted under torture”, – said Olena Bieliachkova, a representative of the human rights organisation Media Initiative for Human Rights.

“In one interview, a former prisoner of war recalled that a guy from his barrack came back so badly beaten he could no longer move on his own – he had ‘confessed’ to killing nine people” – Olena Bieliachkova.