A/HRC/40/CRP.3 Azerbaijan or Crimea, and his family to ‘no man’s land’.49 He told OHCHR that they then handcuffed him, put a bag over his head and took him to a basement, where they interrogated him, accusing him of espionage for the Russian and Armenian intelligence. He said SBU officers periodically beat him, each time for 20-30 minutes, to force him to confess. The man agreed to confess to the SBU accusations on video camera after being threatened at gun point. Two day later, they took him to Kyiv, held him in an apartment and continued to beat him, inflicting severe pain and leaving numerous bruises on his body. On 17 December, SBU officers took him to a hospital for his injuries, registering him under a fake name. He said doctors recommended hospitalization, but SBU officers took him to another apartment and held him there for around two weeks. At one point, he did not receive food for two days. Finally, on 29 December, the SBU released him, telling him to keep silent about his ordeal.50 48. In another case, on 15 November 2018, two men, allegedly SBU officers, wearing camouflage and masks detained a Russian citizen in Kyiv. They handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location. On 23 November, after the man’s wife reported his disappearance, the police opened a criminal investigation, but closed it five days later. 51 On 26 December, a prosecutor’s office instructed the police to reopen the investigation. On 30 December, the man’s personal information (name, surname, date of birth, and alleged criminal charges) appeared on the Myrotvorets website.52 As of 15 February 2019, his relatives have no information about his whereabouts. 49. Late on 21 November 2018, several SBU officers detained a woman in the Kostiantynivka – Kyiv night train.53 They ordered her to leave the train, seized her passport and mobile phone and drove her from Kostyantynivka to an SBU office in Mariupol. She told OHCHR that the Mariupol SBU interrogated her all night and she learned that the SBU got her name and other identifying personal information from the Myrotvorets website. The woman saw her lawyer a day after her arrest, when she was taken to Kramatorsk to meet a Donetsk Regional Prosecutor in order to receive an act of suspicion. She was charged with creating ‘a terrorist group or organization’.54 On 23 November, the Zhovtnevyi district court of Mariupol ordered her arrest.55 50. OHCHR notes that prompt, timely, effective and transparent investigations of all incidents of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment could help stop the pervasive practice and prevent reoccurrence. In this regard, OHCHR notes that the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) became operational on 27 November 2018.56 This body took over the investigative jurisdiction over the crimes involving senior 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 No man’s land is commonly described as a territory, where no authorities exercise control, even though it is formally controlled by the Government of Ukraine. OHCHR interview, 24 January 2019. Pursuant to Article 284 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, part 1(2). The website includes personal data and information available on social media about persons, allegedly involved in activities of ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ and ‘Luhansk people’s republic’. It is allegedly maintained by volunteers but has been actively used since 2014 by Ukraine’s lawenforcement and military. As previously noted by OHCHR, the website also publishes information about members of civil society and journalists, who work in territory controlled by ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ and ‘Luhansk people’s republic.’ In November 2014, she received an IDP registration and had been crossing the contact line from territory controlled by ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ to government-controlled territory on a regular basis. Pursuant to Article 258-3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. OHCHR interview, 28 November 2018. The State Bureau of Investigations was established on 1 March 2016 by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution no. 127 of 29 February 2016. However, the Bureau began its work only two and a half year later. By the end of 2018, the SBI had around 843 cases under investigation, nearly 80 per cent of which had been transferred to the SBI from other investigative bodies. According to authorities, in order to prevent the backlog, the investigations opened before 27 November 2018 would not be transferred to the SBI and should be finalized by the prosecutors within a year. The statement of the Head of the SBI, Roman Truba, 21 December 2018, available at https://dbr.gov.ua/news/roman-trubashtat-slidchikh-dbr-bude-zbilsheno. 15