「自殺も考えた」　ヘルソン住民、ロシアによる拷問の日々語る

【ヘルソンＡＦＰ＝時事】ウクライナ南部ヘルソンに暮らすアナトリー・ストツキーさん（５０）は、同市を占領したロシア軍と親ロシア派武装勢力により数週間にわたり拘束され、殴打や電気ショックなどの虐待を受けた。尿には血が交じり、体重は２５キロ減った。「自殺も考えた。それでも家族のことを考えると、耐えられた」（写真はウクライナ南部ヘルソンで、取材に応じたアナトリー・ストツキーさん）
　ロシア軍が８か月にわたる占領を終えて先週撤退した後、ヘルソンでは虐待や拷問に関する証言が次々と出てきている。ヘルソン中心部の自宅でＡＦＰの取材に応じたストツキーさんは、ロシア軍と親ロ派勢力により２度拘束された際の体験を語った。
　ウクライナ領土防衛隊に所属するストツキーさんは３月２日、ヘルソンがロシア軍に占領される様子を目の当たりにした。その数週間後、ロシアはウクライナ政府の支持者を拘束し始めた。
　４月２５日、妻と３歳の娘と共に自宅にいたストツキーさんは、ロシア軍に拘束された。「家族を殺すと脅されたため、武器を渡した」。頭にフードをかぶせられ、自宅近くの警察署と思われる場所に連行された。
　独房の中で椅子に縛られ、３～４人から尋問された。警棒で殴られ、銃を頭に突きつけられた。ロシア連邦保安局（ＦＳＢ）の職員とみられるフードをかぶった男性たちから、自宅で見つかった武器についてカメラの前で尋問を受けた。
　指紋とＤＮＡサンプルを採取された上で、市外に出ることを禁じられ、ロシア軍への協力を命じられた。釈放されたのは５月４日で、頭にフードをかぶせられた状態で路上に放り出された。

■あざで体中が青く
　「家に帰ると、体中が青く、あざだらけになっていた」。妻と娘を市外に脱出させたが、自身は恐怖から同市を離れられなかった。
　市民の抵抗が活発化し始めていた７月６日、再び拘束された。２回目は、９月末にロシアのウラジーミル・プーチン大統領が併合を宣言した「ドネツク人民共和国」の国家安全保障省の職員に捕まった可能性が高いと考えている。
　ストツキーさんは男たちから、以前拘束されていたことは知っているが、その際の尋問が十分でなかったと告げられ、「知り合いや武器のありかをすべて話せ」と脅された。
　殴打は最初の５～６日間にわたり続いた。「夜は寝かせてもらえなかった。２時間ごとに独房に入ってくる人々に無理やり起こされ、自分の名前を言わされた」。座った状態でパイプに手錠でつながれ、横になることもできなかった。
　ある日、ストツキーさんは尋問のために別の部屋に連れて行かれた。

■食事は３日に１回
　手足を縛られ、小指にクリップを付けられた。「地面に寝かされ、電気ショックを与えられた。筋肉が収縮し、体の中のすべてがねじれた」
　トイレに行くことはほとんど許されず、空き瓶で用を足すしかなかった。最初の２週間は尿に血が交じっていた。「腎臓がきちんと機能していなかった」
　食事は３日に１回のみで、拘束中に２５キロほどやせた。
　独房には壁に穴が開いていたため、他の被拘束者と話すことで「正気を保てた」という。
　８月２０日、ようやく解放された。
　２度目に拘束されていた建物は、市中心部に位置する古いオフィスビルで、入り口に日本、米国、ウクライナの国旗が掲げられていたという。
　ＡＦＰの記者は、ピリプ・オルリク通り１５番地にあるこの４階建ての建物に入ろうとしたが、入り口にいた男性から「今は調査中だ」と言われ、追い返された。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/11/21-10:35）

He was held for weeks in detention, beaten and electrocuted. He urinated blood. He lost 25 kilogrammes and thought of killing himself.
Anatoly Stotsky survived weeks of abuse at the hands of Russian and pro-Russian forces who had occupied the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and threatened to kill his family.
I contemplated killing myself, Stotsky told AFP in an interview.
But thinking about my family gave me the moral strength to endure it all, said the Ukrainian, who turned 50 in detention.
After the Russian army retreated last week following eight months of occupation chilling accounts are emerging of abuse, mistreatment and torture in Kherson.
Stotsky, who spoke to AFP at his home in central Kherson, said he was arrested twice and held for weeks in detention where he was tied up, beaten and electrocuted by Russian and pro-Russian forces.
A member of Ukraine's territorial defense force, Stotsky witnessed Russian troops capture Kherson on March 2.
Following the occupation of the strategic Black Sea port, he received orders to stay home and await instructions. Several weeks later the Russians started arresting Kyiv sympathisers.
On April 25, the Russians came for Stotsky who was at home with his wife and three-year-old daughter.
I gave them my weapon because they were threatening to kill my family, he said.
The Russians put a hood over his head and took him to what he thought was a police station close to his home.
In a cell he was tied to a chair and interrogated by three or four people.
They beat me with a truncheon and put a pistol or a rifle to my head, he said. Stotsky received blows to the ears and the top of his head as the Russians apparently tried to avoid leaving any marks.
Hooded men -- who he thought were members of Russia's security service, the FSB -- questioned him on camera about the weapon found at his home.
The Russians took his fingerprints and a DNA sample. He was forbidden to leave the city and ordered to collaborate with Moscow forces.
He was released on May 4, tossed into the street with a hood over his head.
- 'Covered in bruises' -
When I came home, I was completely blue, I was covered in bruises, he said.
He made sure his wife and daughter left town, passing through a checkpoint near Zaporizhzhia, some 300 kilometres (around 190 miles) northeast of Kherson. He himself stayed behind, saying he was too scared to leave.
Stotsky was arrested again on July 6, as members of the civil resistance became increasingly active in the city, he said.
He believes that the second time he was most likely captured by members of the ministry of state security of the People's Republic of Donetsk, annexed by President Vladimir Putin in late September.
The men told Stotsky they knew he had been in custody but said he had not been questioned properly.
Now you are going to tell us everything, who you know and where your weapons are, he said he was told.
For the first five or six days they would beat me, he recounted.
At night they would not let me sleep. Every two hours they would come into my cell and force me to get up and say my name.
He had to sit handcuffed to a pipe and could not lie down.
Every time his jailers entered his cell, he had to put a bag over his head or risk being beaten.
One day, he was taken to another cell for questioning.
- Meal once every three days -
They tied my hands and feet, and put me on the ground. They attached clips to my little fingers,
Stotsky said.
They electrocuted me as I was lying on the ground. Your muscles contract and everything inside you twists.
The Ukrainian said that access to the toilet was rarely allowed and he had to use empty bottles to relieve himself.
For the first two weeks, he had blood in his urine. My kidneys did not function well, he said.
He would receive food every three days and believes he has lost around 25 kilograms (55 pounds) in detention.
The cells had holes in the walls so he could speak to other detainees not to lose my mind, he added.
He was finally released on August 20.
This time Stotsky did not return home for fear of being arrested, and went to stay with relatives.
He said that the second time he was kept in a centrally-localed old office building that featured the flags of Japan, the United States and Ukraine at the entrance.
An AFP team tried to access the four-storey building located on 15, Pylyp Orlyk Street, but was turned away.
An investigation is underway, a man at the entrance said, without providing further details.