In the meantime the horrors of Stalinist era are back in Dombas - it is hard to believe - must obey to the Christian Orthodox code of conduct - but those are horrific torture tactics of WWII it is hard to believe it happens today (see last paragraph)
“If they cause some harm to society, we keep them here for 15 days,” he said. “They live with us, they work, and they realize their mistakes.”
Maksim Bondar, 22, was forced to dig after his estranged girlfriend complained to militants that he had threatened her in a custody dispute over their daughter. “She complained to the militia, and I ended up here,” he said. “The commander said, ‘You need to marry her if you want rights to your child,’ and so I dug trenches.”
Bogdan Forsenko, 25, said he was riding his bicycle after curfew carrying a jerrycan of gasoline for his car, and was picked up for appearing suspicious. He sweated in the same fetid clothes he wore that night last week, and said he did not know if his relatives knew his whereabouts.
“There’s a war, and I had gasoline,” he said, also interviewed with a militant gunman nearby. “What can I say, they didn’t like it.”
A deputy prime minister in the insurgency, Vladimir Antyufeyev, conceded in an interview that the summary justice of the militants risked alienating the population and that he intended to separate their police and military functions, and set up courts and prosecutors.
For now, no court is needed, the commander known as Lukich said, because many detainees confess. More serious offenders go to a secret-police building in Donetsk that is a headquarters for Mr. Strelkov.
Outside that building is a scene of despair. Dozens of women seeking sons or husbands mill about behind a sandbag barrier for a grim nightly ritual. The warden of the makeshift prison emerges to read out family names of the detained, usually numbering about 50.
“Everybody says we should have gotten out,” said Olya Leonova, who was waiting for news of her brother, Pyotr Dyomin, who is 51, has two children and has not been answering his phone. He could be in a punishment brigade, she said. “I’m hoping that’s where he is now — in his underwear, digging. At least then I would know where he is.”
Svetlana Rozova, a psychologist who works with refugees in Ukrainian territory for an aid group, Dnepr Help, described in a telephone interview treating former detainees. Some are held in basements for weeks. Some patients had fingernails pulled out or were beaten severely enough to break ribs. “They all arrive in a state of shock,” she said. “They don’t understand what has happened to them, they don’t accept it. They are crying. They are fearful, aggressive. This is not a small matter. People’s psychological health is broken by these experiences.”
nytimes.com |
