Artyomovsk prison staff supported, gave medical treatment to LPR POWs - militiaman

Personnel of the pre-trial detention center in Artyomovsk supported and provided medical aid to captured Lugansk People’s Republic militiaman, said an LPR fighter who had returned from Ukrainian captivity.

 

The fighter was captured outside Rubezhnoye in the spring. He was taken to Severodonetsk where Kiev law-enforcers tortured him using a knife and electric shock. Later on, he was transferred to the Artyomovsk pre-trial detention center.

 

“Even the administration of the pre-trial detention center (in Artyomovsk) where we were kept had an entirely different attitude. People are waiting to be liberated, they told us so in March: “We’re ready; we’re waiting.” Roughly speaking, they’ll just put on new shoulder straps with Russian insignia.  They never hurt us. They even provided medical aid and tried to support us. People are waiting; they are our people. Their mentality is the same,” the militiaman said.

 

Militiaman Ruslan who was kept in the Artyomovsk prison for some time, confirmed that prison staff had treated POWs with respect. 

 

“They used the polite pronoun to address us and did not ask us to speak Ukrainian.  They spoke Russian to us. They didn’t force us to speak Ukrainian as they did in other prisons or camps, we didn’t have to shout “Glory to Ukraine,” sing the hymn or learn songs about Bandera. It happened when we got transferred to the Dnepr prison. Dnepr is like Auschwitz 1941. They told us “welcome to hell” as the prison door opened. We were kept there for a month or so, he said. 

 

Over 150 LPR servicemen have returned from Ukrainian captivity since the beginning of the special military operation in February. The LPR ombudsperson said that more than 100 of them had been physically abused.

 

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation to protect Donbass residents from Ukrainian aggression. Prior to that, LPR and DPR Heads Leonid Pasechnik and Denis Pushilin asked the Russian leader to provide military assistance. The LPR militia and Russian armed forces fully liberated the LPR territory from Ukrainian armed formations on July 3.

 

The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014.  The peace talks that began soon thereafter failed to reach tangible results due to Kiev’s position to settle the conflict by force.

 

The Lugansk People’s Republic became a part of Russia on September 30, 2022 following the unification referendum.*i*v