Report suggests torture widespread in war-torn Ukraine

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FILE - In this file photo posted on the Twitter page of Syria's al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front March 28, 2015, which is consistent with AP reporting, a fighter from Syria's al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front holds his group flag in front of an Idlib governorate building in Idlib province, north Syria. London-based Amnesty International said in a report released Tuesday, July 5, 2016, that some opposition groups in Syria have adopted methods of abuse similar to those employed by the government, after documenting a “chilling” wave of torture, abduction and summary killings in insurgent-controlled areas. The rights group said civilians in insurgent-controlled areas are living under the rule of the gun, with widening abuse that often amounts to war crimes. (Al-Nusra Front Twitter page via AP, File)

A new report suggests that the detention and torture of civilians has become common in Ukraine, which has been torn by a separatist war in the east.

The joint report released on Thursday by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch says both the Ukrainian government and Russia-backed separatists have committed enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture of civilians. Researchers based their findings on 40 interviews with victims.

The report suggests that civilians have been detained merely because they were suspected of supporting varying sides of the Ukrainian conflict, which began in April 2014 and has claimed more than 9,400 lives.

A U.N. panel aimed to prevent torture in May cut short its trip to Ukraine because government security forces aren’t granting access to sites that it wants to visit.

From Agencies, Feature image courtesy AP

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