A/HRC/43/CRP.5 VII. Human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation 89. During the reporting period, OHCHR continued to document cases of torture and other ill-treatment inflicted by the Russian FSB and penitentiary workers on persons apprehended and detained in Crimea and subsequently deported to the Russian Federation. In some cases, detainees with medical needs were not provided with basic medical care. Some victims and their lawyers brought incidents of torture and ill-treatment to the attention of the Courts, at the pre-trial stage as well as during their trials. While in some cases pro-forma investigations reportedly took place, no prosecutions resulted. Those detainees originally from Crimea had Russian Federation citizenship imposed upon them, which formed the basis of denial of Ukrainian consular visits to their places of detention in the Russian Federation.78 “I was going crazy because of the solitude. I didn’t know what would happen next. I was thinking that perhaps my life was over now. .. I didn’t even know where I was, I only knew that it was Moscow… No one told me what would happen next.” - A detainee describing solitary confinement and absence of contact with the outside world. A. Incident near the Kerch Strait 90. During the simultaneous release on 7 September 2019, the Russian Federation released 24 Ukrainian crew members (all men) seized during the 25 November 2018 incident near the Kerch Strait.79 The crew members, three of whom sustained injuries during the apprehension, spent over nine months detained in Crimea and the Russian Federation on charges of illegally crossing the Russian border. 91. The crew members told OHCHR that they were subjected to ill-treatment by the Russian FSB after their vessels had been seized in the Black Sea. In particular, when the crew members were lined up on their knees on the deck with their hands cuffed behind their backs, the Russian officers pointed guns at their heads and threatened to shoot. Some of the crew members were forced to kneel for a prolonged period of time without a clear reason. Upon arrival at a military base in Kerch, the crew members were interrogated, during which, at least one crew member was subjected to psychological intimidation and threats. The FSB officers, in the presence of a free legal aid lawyer, intimidated the victim by continuously jabbing his shoulder with significant force while verbally insulting him. 80 Several crew members complained that their requests to inform their relatives about their arrest and whereabouts were denied. 92. OHCHR established that, on 27 November 2018, a local court in Simferopol held accelerated bail hearings for 21 crew members without conducting a proper examination of the merits of each case or assessing the justification for pre-trial detention. These hearings were described as pro forma, lasting no longer than 15 minutes each. The following day, hearings concerning the remaining three wounded crew members were similarly held in the Kerch city hospital. 93. Several crew members complained that they were ill-treated by FSB officers during their transportation from Simferopol to Moscow on 30 November 2018. One crew member 78 79 80 26 See Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, Report of the Secretary-General 2 August 2019, A/74/276. OHCHR, Report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, 16 November 2018 to 15 February 2019, paras. 99-103. HRMMU interview, 8 October 2019.