Russian “denazification courses” are a sort of torture against Ukrainians, – Oleksandra Romantsova
Russia’s “denazification courses” for Ukrainians in the occupied territories are a distortion of reality and a violation of human rights; in essence, it is one of the types of torture that the occupiers use against Ukrainians. Oleksandra Romantsova, executive director of the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), spoke about this on Hromadske Radio.
Human rights defenders paying a lot of attention to the so-called “denazification” courses that the occupiers are forcibly arranging for Ukrainian women and men in the temporarily occupied territories, Oleksandra Romantsova said: “We see direct violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. In this case, we rely on the investigation of Novaya Gazeta and the Sevastopol resident’s Telegram Channel, which publishes videos from our temporarily occupied territories where Ukrainian women and men are forced to read a text (apologizing for acts/statements disloyal to the Russian army – ed.)“.
She stressed that the text that Ukrainians are forced to speak up is clearly written by occupiers.
“This is not the private opinion of a person speaking. This text is spoken by people who have been humiliated and forced to speak. In some cases, the consequences of physical violance on these people are clearly visually noticeable. And of course, this text is not published on a person’s private page, but usually on a public channel, and it continues to be distributed for propaganda purposes. First, the text says that the man did something disloyal to the Russian army, then he apologizes, and in the end he says that he has undergone a full course of “denazification“, – said the executive director of the CCL.
She also stressed that the very fact that people are being forced to do something they don’t want to do is a problem. Both in a social context for their future and probably for psychological health, because the actions of people, in this case, are a consequence of humiliation and intimidation.
In the European Convention on Human Rights, humiliation stands in one article along with torture. Article 3 simply states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment“. The article itself is called “the use of torture and behavior that degrades human dignity.” Therefore, it should be clearly understood that [humiliation] is in fact a kind of torture – psychological, emotional intimidation… We also have similar examples in other occupied territories. When people are detained and demand to demonstrate public support from the occupiers in Melitopol, Zaporizhia, Kherson region. Public figures, politicians, and well-known businessmen are forced to demonstrate open support for the occupation regime. This should make the population believe that Russia is here forever,” added Oleksandra Romantsova.
You can listen to the full version of the conversation here. In it, the human rights defender, in particular, talks about the prospects of punishing the political and military leadership of Russia for committing war crimes in Ukraine.
