A/HRC/43/CRP.5 258-3 (membership in a terrorist group or terrorist organisation) of the Criminal Code. On 5 August 2019, the court released him under house arrest, which triggered public outcry on social media. He was identified as a separatist and labelled an enemy for his participation in armed groups by the Myrotvorets (‘Peacekeeper’) website, 30 which also published his home address. OHCHR recalls that States have an obligation to exercise due diligence to protect persons from threats to their lives by third parties, including by taking adequate measures of protection where they know, or ought to know, that lives are at risk. The investigation into his death should be prompt, impartial and effective, and the perpetrators brought to account. 48. On 22 May 2019, eight UAF soldiers were apprehended by armed groups near Olenivka checkpoint. One soldier was reportedly ‘sentenced’ by a ‘court’ of the ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ and held in Makiivka penal colony No. 97. On 14 October 2019, he was found dead in his cell. Circumstances surrounding the case raise suspicions that his death may have been violent. C. Arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment 49. During the reporting period, OHCHR documented cases of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment occurring in Government-controlled territory, in territory controlled by ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ and ‘Luhansk people’s republic’ and in the Russian Federation after their transfer from self-proclaimed ‘republics’. 50. For example, on 30 July 2019, in Government-controlled territory, approximately ten armed men wearing masks and camouflage without insignia violently searched and abducted a man in front of his family and neighbours. They took him to a garage where he was waterboarded, threatened and severely beaten, although the perpetrators attempted to avoid leaving bruises. They tried to force him to confess to participating in armed groups, to being a Russian agent, and to give them access to his social media accounts. After being detained overnight in the garage, the man was taken home to freshen up whilst under guard before being taken to the old SBU building31 to give his testimony to a ‘kurator’32. Around 10pm, the ‘kurator’ told the man he was allowed to go home on ‘house arrest’ and warned him to stay there or risk further violence. Over the following week, the man was repeatedly taken to the old SBU building33 and interrogated without a lawyer. He was finally instructed by the ‘kurator’ to make the same confessions when presented to a prosecutor. 34 On 6 August, the Kramatorsk City Court placed him in pre-trial detention for 60 days, charging him under article 258-3 (creating a terrorist group or terrorist organization) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. On 12 August, his lawyer submitted a complaint to the court about his illtreatment. However, a criminal complaint under article 365-2 (excess of authority or official powers) of the Criminal Code was only registered by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) on 21 August 2019, after the lawyer complained in court about the SBI investigator’s inaction. As of 15 November, he remained under investigation, in pre-trial detention. 51. OHCHR is concerned by the practice of detaining, often incommunicado, and torturing individuals by the ‘ministry of state security’ in ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ or ‘Luhansk’s people’s republic’, before they are expelled to the Russian Federation or transferred to Russia Federation authorities. Incommunicado detention, constitutes arbitrary detention, and increases risk of torture and ill-treatment, as described in the following cases. The expulsions and transfers amount to forced movement of civilians prohibited by 30 31 32 33 34 16 See OHCHR, Reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine, 16 November 2017 to 15 February 2018, para. 87; 16 November 2018 to 15 February 2019, para. 50, 16 May – 15 August 2019, para. 47. Located at 56A Yaroslava Mudroho Str., Kramatorsk. An informal term for someone from the intelligence services responsible for surveillance of individuals. Located at 56 Yaroslava Mudroho Str., Kramatorsk. OHCHR interview 28 August 2019.