In the occupied territories the potential victim’s age, gender, often even political views usually are not taken into account. Herewith, of course, women are in a particularly difficult situation in the territory of the so-called "L/DPR". This we have already mentioned recently in the publication of the Coalition "Justice for Peace in Donbas" on the topic of gender-based violence. Today we will focus on gender-based violence as a part of public policy of "DPR" and "LPR".

The origins of the current situation

A speech delivered by Alexey Mozgovoy, the commander of "Prizrak", during the "people's court" over rapists in November 2014, can indicate the unenviable situation for women living in the occupied territories.

The separatists’ leader said that in the "DPR" "women should stay at home", "cross stitch" and "bake pies." He added that he does not like the situation when the weaker sex representatives as well as men allow themselves entertainment, including visiting bars.

"Is our whole female population affected by prostitution or what?", said Mozgovoy during the "people's court" hearing.

Following him, another pro-russian combatant said: "We should rape them all!". After his speech, Mozgovoy concluded that once he would see a girl in a bar, he would detain her immediately.

Outrage on young women

The actions of pro-russian combatants include, but are not limited to rape attempts and beatings only. Because where there is no force of law, there comes the law of force. Perhaps this principle guided the militants who had severely abused the body of 14-year-old girl in Prymorsky village in the occupied region of Novoazovsk, Donetsk oblast.

One of the crimes related to the abuse of women occurred in September 2014 in Yasynuvata. Irina Goloborodko, the editor of the "Odissos" newspaper wrote on her Facebook page about one of her friends, who had recently tragically lost her young daughter. First, the men in uniform kidnapped 22-year-old Irina. The same evening her corpse was delivered to the threshold of her father's house.

"She was raped so that feces were coming out of her genitalia. There was no teeth as they were all broken, and the trident was cut on her chest", retold Irina Goloborodko.

Such stories, unfortunately, are common. However, in some cases, militants left alive the victims of sexual violence. For example, in September 2014 in Lugansk the combatants, Russians and Caucasians, kidnapped two girls right from their house. Next morning, the survivors of psychological, physical and sexual abuse were back home.

"Public policy" and private life

Anna Sukhareva shared with "Fakty" a sad story of their employee Tatiana. At some point of time, a tank man captain from Kostroma began to care about her. According to Anna, after she had started the relationship with the Russian militant, she often came to work with bruises.

Considering the suggestion to leave the town, Tatiana said that he would find her everywhere. Later it turned out that the Russian captain used to beat a woman. He used to humiliate her and threaten to throw her to the basement and ensure that there would be a group rape. The offender had a penchant for sadomasochism, and, according to the victim, forced her to do things "that cannot be seen in any porn".

The trooper behaved brutally when he had discovered that Tatiana fell with another man, a Russian soldier, senior lieutenant.

"Once I came to the evening shift. And there was a rough-and-tumble. Captain had come on crutches. He dragged Tanya on the floor, her head shaking. Handcuffed Starley (senior lieutenant. – Author’s note) was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Neither guards nor visitors dare to approach him. Shootings, swearing, broken dishes, scattered tables”, says Anna Sukhareva.

The result of this "L/DNR" "education" style was a concussion and several stitches on the wounds left after the brutal beatings.

Evidence of gender-based violence in the sources of the so-called "DPR"/"LPR"

Violations committed by pro-russian combatants are claimed even in the so-called people's republics. For example, this year in March police arrested separatist Vladimir Timofeev ("Babay") and his henchmen. According to the General Prosecutor of "LPR", criminals used to rape and kill in the city of Stakhanov. During the early spring of this year, they have committed two dozen serious crimes.

All those cases happened in the so-called "FSC" and "DNR" with civilians who were not held in captivity. Adding them to those committed in the places of illegal detention, we are dealing with more than a hundred cases of gender-based violence. Most offenders who have committed these crimes are not punished yet.

To seek justice in this matter, the Coalition "Justice for Peace in Donbas" documents cases of gender-based violence. The collected and processed information will soon become a serious basis to punish rapists and murderers in the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court. So if you know about human rights violations in Donbas, please share it via a special secured form on our website. Without your written consent, the Coalition will not publish or transmit the received information to third parties.