Evidence recently released by international human rights law firm Global Rights Compliance demonstrated clear links between the set-up, management and financing of torture chambers in the now-liberated city of Kherson, Ukraine, and the Russian state. This evidence, uncovered by the Office of the Prosecutor General for Ukraine and analysed by Global Rights Compliance’s first-of-its-kind Mobile Justice Team, brings to light shocking details of the crimes against humanity which have been inflicted on the occupied peoples of the city in southern Ukraine.
The Mobile Justice Team, set up in May 2022 by Global Rights Compliance in response to reports of widespread war crimes since the Russian invasion in February 2022, is formed of a mixture of top international and Ukrainian lawyers, led by British expert, Wayne Jordash KC. Members of the team are based in Ukraine and are therefore uniquely able to deploy rapidly across the country to help Ukrainian prosecutors, to collect and analyse evidence of war crimes as areas are liberated from Russian occupation – as with Kherson in November 2022.
The evidence released recently includes plans used by Putin’s occupying forces to establish, manage and finance at least 20 torture centres in Kherson. These centres were used to subjugate, re-educate, and/or kill Ukrainian civic leaders and dissenters, by means of torture in many cases. The evidence, including financial records, also reveals the involvement of multiple Russian security agencies, including the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB), local Kherson FSB, and the Russian Prison Service, directly implicating the Russian state in a calculated strategy to extinguish Ukrainian identity in Kherson.
In support of Global Rights Compliance’s release of the evidence, The Communication Group plc prepared and distributed a dedicated press release, outlining the shocking details of what went on in the torture chambers, and the work undertaken by Global Rights Compliance in support of the OPG, documenting and analysing this evidence to build water-tight cases against perpetrators of these crimes. Widespread coverage was secured for the announcement across national and international print, online and broadcast media. This includes broadcast coverage with Sky News, print with The i, Daily Mirror, Daily Express and Libération, and online stretching across 6 continents, including with Reuters, CNN, CNBC, Forbes, Clarín and The Guardian, to name a few.
To read more about our work with Global Rights Compliance, follow this thread.
