A/HRC/43/CRP.5 was forced to walk despite having shrapnel wounds in his leg received at the time of his apprehension, which caused him severe pain and suffering. 81 Others were forced to walk with their heads bent below their knees while their arms were handcuffed behind their backs.82 94. Once detained in Moscow,83 all crew members were placed in solitary confinement with no contact with the outside world for periods ranging from three to eleven days. During their isolation, they had no access to natural light, exercise, TV, radio, newspapers or cigarettes.84 In addition, the injured crew members complained of inadequate healthcare and a lack of information provided on their medical well-being. Allegedly, the SIZO medical staff repeatedly failed to change one of the victims’ bandages in a timely manner, ignored his health complaints, refused to provide him with his medical records, and even misinformed him that he had hepatitis.85 B. Situation of detainees released from the Russian Federation 95. Five Ukrainian detainees (all men) who had been arrested in Crimea were also released during the simultaneous release on 7 September 86: Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Volodymyr Balukh, Yevhen Panov, and Edem Bekirov. With the exception of Mr. Bekirov whose trial was pending, they had all been convicted between 2015 and 2018 and were serving their sentences in the Russian Federation. 96. The released men informed OHCHR of torture and ill-treatment suffered either upon apprehension or in detention facilities in both Crimea and in the Russian Federation. In the majority of incidents, the Russian FSB and penitentiary workers were cited as perpetrators. The torture and ill-treatment included electroshocks, threats of sexual violence, suffocation, and beatings with wet towels, fists, metal objects, and bats.87 In several cases, the FSB apprehended the victims with excessive force and without giving reasons for the arrest. The victims were then held unofficially, with no formal status, until their arrest was subsequently registered several hours/days later. It appears the FSB used the periods of unofficial detention to engage torture and ill treatment to try to force the victims to selfincriminate or testify against others. In one case, the FSB coerced the detainee to refuse private legal services by threatening to return him to the location of unofficial detention where he had previously been brutally tortured. The victims and their lawyers raised several incidents of torture and ill-treatment at the pre-trial stage as well as during their trials. While in some cases pro-forma investigations reportedly took place, these have not resulted in any prosecutions. 97. In violation of international humanitarian law,88 the Russian Federation deported all five detainees from Crimea to its own territory. While four of them were already serving their sentences in the prison system of the Russian Federation when they were deported to the Russian Federation, Mr. Bekirov was forcibly transported to Moscow by the FSB in the cargo section of a passenger plane following his release from pre-trial detention in Simferopol in August 2019.89 Those prisoners who were originally from Crimea — Messrs. 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 HRMMU interview, 12 November 2019. HRMMU interview, 8 October 2019. 21 crew members were admitted to the Lefortovo SIZO. The three injured crew members were initially admitted to the SIZO “Matrosskaya Tishina” and transferred from to Lefortovo SIZO in January 2019. HRMMU interview, 31 October 2019. HRMMU interview, 12 November 2019 See Part IV for more information. HRMMU interviews, 7, 9, and 21 October and 11 November 2019. These cases illustrate a systematic violation by the Russian Federation as the occupying Power in Crimea. Article 49 of Geneva Convention IV prohibits forcible transfers and deportations of protected persons outside the occupied territory. The deportations of the released prisoners reflect the larger trend of systematic deportations of detainees from Crimea to the Russian Federation to stand trial or serve a prison sentence. HRMMU interview, 4 November 2019. 27