A/HRC/43/CRP.7 Annex I. Arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of conflictrelated detainees as exemplified by cases of individuals simultaneously released under the Minsk agreements on 29 December 2019 1. This annex summarizes OHCHR’s factual findings regarding arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of conflict-related detainees simultaneously released on 29 December 2019 by the Government and the self-proclaimed ‘republics’, rather than detailed information on individual cases in order to protect individuals and their families through strict adherence to the principles of informed consent and do no harm A. Arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Government-controlled territory 2. By 15 February 2020, OHCHR was unable to interview any of the 124 detainees released by the Government and handed over to representatives of the self-proclaimed ‘republics’ on 29 December 2019 because of restrictions imposed on OHCHR operations in territory controlled by the self-proclaimed ‘republics’. OHCHR, however, had previously documented the cases of 75 of them (68 men and seven women). Many of these cases have been reflected in previous public OHCHR reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine.129 3. Of these 75 individuals, nine had been in detention since 2014, 25 since 2015, one since 2016, 13 since 2017, 18 since 2018 and nine since 2019. OHCHR believes that the following analysis of these 75 cases confirms the prevalence and patterns of arbitrary detention and procedural violations during the initial stage of detention, as well as of torture and ill-treatment of conflict-related detainees in Government-controlled territory documented since 2014. 4. The 75 cases showed a consistent pattern (54 cases, 72 percent of the total) of arbitrary detention130 or procedural violations at the initial stages of detention with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) being mainly responsible. The prevalence of being subjected to arbitrary detention or procedural violations at the initial stages of detention decreased for conflictrelated detainees from 79 percent in 2014-2015 (27 out of 34 cases) to 63 per cent in 20182019 (17 out of 27 cases). 5. In at least 28 cases detainees were held incommunicado in unofficial places of detention: 12 were held in SBU premises (usually described by detainees as “basements”, such as those of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia SBU), and 16 in unknown places (including “basements”, “wagons”, “factories”, “rented apartments”, “hotel rooms”). The duration of this detention did not usually exceed several days, after which detainees were transferred to an official place of detention: ITT (temporary police detention facility) or SIZO (pre-trial detention facility). 6. In the 23 cases for which both the date of apprehension and date of formal registration of detention are known to OHCHR, only six detentions (26 per cent) were registered on the actual day of apprehension in accordance with the law. Of the remaining cases, eight 129 130 36 See, for instance, OHCHR reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine covering the following periods: 16 November 2018 to 15 February 2019, para. 51; 16 May to 15 August 2018, para. 47; 16 May to 15 August 2017, paras. 55 and 58; 16 February to 15 May 2017, para. 48; 16 May to 15 August 2016, para. 45; 16 February to 15 May 2016, para. 30; 16 November 2015 to 15 February 2016, paras. 53 and 103-104; and 16 May to 15 August 2015, para. 54. According to International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 9, no person shall be subjected to arbitrary detention. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considers arbitrary detention as cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily or otherwise inconsistently with the relevant international standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or in the relevant international legal instruments.