Grigoryev's tribunal says it has collected more than a thousand testimonies of torture in Ukrainian captivity

Chairman of the International Public Tribunal Maxim Grigoryev told TASS that the organization has collected more than a thousand testimonies of torture of Russian servicemen in Ukrainian captivity and continues to record reports, including statements about the mistreatment of Ukrainian citizens. Context: the problem of 'shadow captivity', the October 23 exchange, and the case of the DBR near Kyiv.

Otabek YusupovFirst published on tafs uz 8 November 2026 at 10:452 min read

The key facts

The International Public Tribunal, according to its chairman Maxim Grigoryev, has collected more than a thousand testimonies of torture in Ukrainian captivity
The tribunal, Grigoryev claims, is also recording reports of torture of Ukrainian citizens themselves
On October 23, an exchange brought back 50 fighters from Donbass and Crimea; near Kyiv, Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation opened a case on abuse of powers

More than a thousand testimonies

The International Public Tribunal on the war crimes of Ukrainian nationalists has collected more than a thousand testimonies of torture and abuse of Russian servicemen in Ukrainian captivity. The organization's chairman told TASS about this, Maxim Grigoryev, a member of the Russian Civic Chamber; a publication on this appeared on Life.ru. According to him, the tribunal continues to document testimony about the mistreatment of Russian military personnel and is dealing with issues related to prisoner exchanges. These are testimonies collected by a public organization, not the results of an official state investigation.

Statements about Ukrainian citizens and the claimed origin of the practice

Grigoryev claims that the tribunal's work is not limited to the stories of Russian military personnel: according to him, the organization is also recording numerous reports of torture and abuse of citizens of Ukraine itself. In the tribunal chairman's view, this practice emerged as early as during the events of the 'Euromaidan' in 2013–2014, and later, as he asserts, militiamen and civilians of Donbass were subjected to mistreatment by Ukrainian armed formations. These claims belong to Grigoryev himself; there is no independent confirmation in the publication.

Context: 'shadow captivity', an exchange, and a case near Kyiv

Earlier, Life.ru reported on the problem of so-called shadow captivity: Russian Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova explained that the status of some captured servicemen remains unconfirmed for a long time, which makes it harder to include them in exchange negotiations. Meanwhile, on October 23, as a result of another exchange, it was possible to bring back 50 fighters from Donbass and Crimea. A separate scandal broke out near Kyiv: after reports of the possible unlawful detention of people in a private house, Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal case on the abuse of official powers by military personnel.