Saturday, August 23, 2014

Ukrainian POW's Tortured, Believed Killed by Russian backed 'DNR' Fighters in Ukraine



Russian Backed 'DNR' Fighters Tortured and Probably Killed Three Ukrainian POW's in East Ukraine
by @robpulsenews & @djp3tros

On August 2nd a rather disturbing video was published on YouTube by Alexander Ivin, a Russian 'DNR' militia fighter in Ukraine and ex-club owner, from Rostov, Russia. 
The video, date marked by Ivin 29th July 2014, appears to show three captured Ukrainian POW's being interrogated and having wounds attended to whilst being filmed (also by multiple people)

(Although distressing to watch, it's important to view the video before continuing - NOTE Gunshot near end)

Throughout the video the captors mock and demean the Ukrainian POW's. The interregators main line of questioning is to find out what their mission was and who their commanders were. The POW's seem visibly frightened; under duress; and look badly beaten up after having been tortured prior to filming.

WARNING: Very graphic content below this point
Although the video pretends to show that they are being taken care of:
Yet one of them has a fresh burn wound from a hot nozzle of a gun barrel:
The interrogator asks what the wound is, and when he found out it was done by Russians, he laughed the matter away and said it was better not to say more.

Here is an example of nozzles that may have caused this type of wound:

Since it is a very specific pattern, perhaps somebody knows what gun it must have been? Most barrels are round, but sometimes they are split like this one that is split in four:
He even touches and squeezes the wound deliberately:
The scene around the POW's under interrogation and being given 'fake' medical aid is of many heavily armed fighters mixed with some civilians in a courtyard:
At the end, after his friends have been led away, this POW breaks down:
The other POWs:

Perhaps his nose had just been broken?





This interrogator seems to have been enjoying himself:
Note the specific tattoo:
Pretending to be nice to the POW's for the camera's after they had been severley beaten up and tortured:
The POW's situation and bloodied clothing, as seen from behind:
Cameraman Alexander Ivin filmed himself:




Note that he is missing a tooth. He must have lost it during the war, since he still had it before going to war.




The location

 There is a distinctive building in the video:

And a photograph from Ivin's VK account:
(It can also be seen on this website from before the war)

It appears to be a Ukrainian Border Guard Base which has been turned into a HQ for the Russian backed DNR rebels.

It's location is here:
On a larger scale:
Yellow cross = Saur Mogila WWII monument.
Dotted blue line = border with Russia




Some photos from his page:
He seems to be good friends with the man seen interrogating in the video :




He tried to run start a club in his hometown:
At that time he still had all his teeth?
With his mother in the club:
He seemed to already be friends with the main interrogator before they went to war:
Link to that photo

Observe the tattoo on his right arm. It is the same as in the video:

Another photo:
He had earrings, but obviously he had them removed and likely had an operation to restore it, as this is not suitable for a soldier:
So, Alexanders club has likely failed. He may have had financial problems and the two of them decided to try their luck as mercenaries?




Ivin also has this photo on his page:
In the middle the main interrogator can be seen. This photo has been used for Propaganda lies. They said these were some of the Ukrainian 'Nazi' soldiers in front of the Ukrainian IL-76 the day before it was shot down and 50 soldiers died.

 So even before they went to war, they appear to have been involved in military activity (perhaps training?) and they had no problems producing lies for the cause.


(GRAPHIC) Dead people


 Ivin has some disturbing photos of dead people on his page:
One of the photos is this one:
Most disturbing about this photo is that the person in the front has two big holes through his skull and both are possibly burned, but only partially and the area on the ground around them is burned as well. So it is possible that they had been shot and then covered with petrol and set on fire to make it look like they were war victims.
This photo comparison suggests it is plausible that two of the POWs could be the two dead people photographed:
A day after the photo was seen, Ivin deleted the above photo from his VK account :
As you can see there are only 9 photos of dead people left.

 This is what happens when trying to access the photo again (link found in history of Chrome):
First it was thought it was a coincident, but still suspicious, because why would Ivin specifically remove that particular photo? One argument: because that is the only photo that links him to as well the living and the dead POW's. Since tweets have been made publicly about this matter, Ivin or the FSB might have noticed and they may have removed this compromising photo.

Yet a Google image search of the image still gave a result and it can be found here, together with other photos of dead people as well. WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC: see this link. That page is an update from a previous one. The previous one also has a photo from the same two people from a different angle. See this link. There is also a photo of a female where clearly just the ground around her is burned.

Later it was established that a concerted attempt was made to hack personal internet accounts including this website (initially even able to take it down), so now it's believed Russia's GRU may have had intelligence on authors of this piece. 

Tarpaulins similar to those wrapped around bodies unearthed from mass graves in Slovyansk


 In the video two long tarpaulins can been seen laid out in parallel on the ground. Three POW's are stood on the edge of them:


Those tarpaulins appear very similar to those wrapped around the buried bodies of dead people recovered from mass graves in Slovyansk on 24th July and a week before this video was allegedly filmed: (screens from Vice News video report by Simon Ostrovsky)


One of the POW's may have been shot and wrapped in a tarpaulin, ready for a quick burial.


Gunshot near end of video

At 4:55 in the video, a gunshot can be clearly heard while the camera appears blacked out. The camera then pans to reveal the last images before ending:

As the gunshot rings out the captors are heard asking the POW mockingly if he shot at them (before being captured). He says not, and in reply his captors say that he might end up being shot. This mocking, demeaning attitude was typical throughout of the video.

Was one of the POW's seen led away shot while the camera was still running - the gunshot (sound) mistakenly captured on camera? And was his dead body wrapped in a tarpaulin (seen neatly laid out on the ground in the video) ready for burial?

The evidence suggests the other two POW's were dumped and left unburied as in the comparison photo (above)

Summary


The most likely outcome, based upon the evidence obtained during this investigation, is that all three POWs seen alive in the video, have been killed and disposed of. There is no evidence to suggest these men are still alive.
Alexander Ivin and his fellow fighters have documented; witnessed; and taken part in these war crimes.

If you have ANY information about any of these people or this incident, please help by contacting via Twitter.