ICC investigating torture of Ukrainian POWs by Russians

Yuriy Bielousov, Head of the Department for Combating Crimes Committed during the Armed Conflict at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"From what I can say now, this is an area of our cooperation. The first was the area of deportation of Ukrainian children. And the ICC continues to investigate this case. The second area was attacks on energy infrastructure. And another trend that will gain momentum is torture and ill-treatment in places of detention. We are working with the ICC, so I hope there will be results. I don't know when exactly they will be, but it is definitely in the focus of attention of the ICC," he said.

According to Bielousov, the ICC showed interest in this area because torture in places of detention is becoming systematic and indicates that Russia is carrying out this policy.

When asked whether this means that the ICC will soon issue arrest warrants for individuals who are responsible for the execution of punishments in Russia, he said: "Yes, we can assume so."

He also said that in cases of torture of prisoners of war and civilians, the Ukrainian investigation would focus on entities involved in the organization of this system in Russia.

"The ICC will take the highest leadership, and we will take a little lower and further. We won't focus just on executors. This will also be the top military and political leadership. Heads of institutions, heads of departments that coordinate this activity, the FSB or the Federal Penitentiary Service and higher - they are in our field of vision," Bielousov said.

Brenda Hollis, who is in charge of the Ukrainian workstream at the ICC, said in early June that ICC employees were identifying locations where representatives of Russia subjected Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians to brutal torture.

On June 25, judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Secretary of the Russian Security Council and former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov.

Shoigu and Gerasimov are suspected of war crimes in the form of attacks on civilian objects, causing excessive accidental damage to the civilian population or damage to civilian objects, as well as crimes against humanity.