Rights group condemns systemic torture of Ukrainian POWs by Russia News
HubertdeThé / Pixabay
Rights group condemns systemic torture of Ukrainian POWs by Russia

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Thursday charging that Russia has inflicted a widespread and deliberate pattern of physical and psychological abuse on Ukrainian POWs throughout their detention.

The report, based on in-depth interviews with 12 former prisoners, documents severe beatings, mock executions, electric shocks, and attacks by dogs, describing a system intended to break human dignity.

The Russian military and the Ukrainian POWs in their custody are governed by the laws of war, specifically the Third Geneva Convention. This treaty, to which Russia is a signatory, explicitly prohibits torture, cruel treatment, and outrages upon personal dignity. The HRW report asserts that Russia’s systematic violations of these rules constitute war crimes, and may amount to crimes against humanity.

In its report, Human Rights Watch states that the evidence points to a coordinated policy. Holly Cartner, deputy program director at HRW, condemned the actions:

Russian authorities’ abhorrent systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war is a serious violation of core protections under international humanitarian law. POWs face daily life-threatening ordeals in Russian custody, and all those responsible for these atrocities should be held to account.

The report holds the Russian state and individual commanders responsible for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It calls for immediate, unconditional access for independent monitors to all detention sites and demands that those responsible for abuses be investigated and prosecuted, including through international mechanisms like the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has an ongoing investigation into the situation in Ukraine.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Connecticut adopts first modern constitution

On January 14, 1639, the first written governmental constitution in modern history was adopted in the Colony of Connecticut. The Fundamental Orders represented the first time that a government was based upon a written constitution anywhere in the world. Along with the Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders served as bases for the United States Constitution 150 years later, which in turn influenced the development of later constitutions throughout the world. Three hundred and twenty-six years after the original Fundamental Orders were adopted by Connecticut, the modern Constitution of Connecticut was ratified.

Guatemala constitution takes effect

On January 14, 1986, the current constitution of Guatemala took effect.

Read the Spanish-language text of the constitution, as amended in 1993.

First constitution adopted by Connecticut

On January 14, 1639, Connecticut adopted its first constitution, one of the earliest such documents in the American colonies. Review the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.