I am Gennadii Serhiyovych Afanasiev, a released political prisoner. I was born in 1990, on the eve of Ukraine’s independence, in Simferopol. I graduated from university with a degree in law and I was also a professional photographer.
At the time of the occupation of the Crimea by Russia, I helped the Ukrainian military who were in the Crimea and participated in protests against the occupation of the peninsula.
At first I did not accept Maidan because of the Russian propaganda, but later I realized what was happening and became its most sincere supporter.
On May 9, 2014, I took part in the Victory Day parade in Simferopol. I walked in a column holding up a photo of my great-grandfather, the pride of our family, because he participated in World War II. On the way, men in civilian clothes suddenly jumped me and pushed me into a car. It was not until later that I found out that these men were officers of the FSB. In the car they put a bag over my head and they kept hitting me in the stomach and head. They kept questioning me about participants in pro-Ukrainian rallies and threatening me, saying they were going to take me into the woods and make me dig my own grave. They brought me to my apartment, took my keys, threw me on the floor with a bag over my head, and conducted a search, but naturally did not find anything there.
Next they took me to a cold cellar where they kept me for 10 days, not letting me sleep, drink, or eat anything. During this time the FSB officers chained me to an iron table and kept punching me in the head, wearing boxing gloves so as not to leave any bruises. They would put a plastic bag over my head, choke me, and then beat me again, jeering and mocking me, but I said nothing. As it turned out, that was still decent treatment of me on their part, because later on serious torture began.
I had no lawyer with me throughout all this time, but I was surrounded by investigators from Moscow, stout fellows from the Caucasus, and FSB officers. They tortured and pressured me to give them facts that they wanted to hear, and which I did not know. So then they started demanding the most important thing from me—they wanted me to confess that on May 9 I wanted to blow up the Eternal Flame memorial. This was absurd, because they had detained me in public at a time when I was walking in a solemn procession toward the memorial.
This is unpleasant to hear, but I am forced to tell again and again about the things that I had to go through. People need to know what happens to those who are being illegally detained in the Crimea and in Russia, because I am not the only one like this. My eyes have seen many people in over two years, and such cruelty was not applied to all, but to those they needed or those who stood in their way.
They would put a gas mask on my head with a hose attached, and then unscrew the bottom valve and spray gas from a cylinder in there. I would choke on my own vomit. When I lost all connection with reality, they would remove the mask, give me ammonia to sniff, and then repeat the whole thing again and again. As a consequence of this cruel torture, I did confess my guilt in the end.
Then they demanded that I give evidence against Oleg Kolchenko and Oleg Sentsov. I kept refusing, so in response they connected electric wires to my genitals and sent the current through. They kept sending current through for a very long time. That was how they forced me to sign documents prepared in advance.
When they started forcing me to sign an agreement with the investigators, they pressed me against the floor while stark naked and started passing a soldering iron back and forth next to my body, telling me what was going to happen when this burning hot tool was going to get under me. Most importantly, they threatened to get to my mother and do the same things to her, and that had its effect.
It was not until the trial of Oleksander Kolchenko and Oleg Sentsov that I was able, in front of many witnesses, to talk about the torture and withdraw my testimony against these innocent people, whom I did not even know until then.
FSB operatives got even with me for that one time in Rostov by beating me up while I was in pretrial detention. Fortunately, thanks to the appearance of independent lawyers and rights advocates, it became possible to document these injuries, though none of the law enforcement people were brought to justice for these actions.
Still, their vendetta against me continued. The FSB sent me by prisoner transport to the gulag in the Komi Republic. The prisoner transportation itself was very hard. Air temperature reached 40-45 degrees Celsius. The railcars became so hot that they had to be cooled using a fire engine. Inside there was no water, no doctors, and completely inhuman conditions. There, in that correctional colony, in that gulag, I fell seriously ill. My body was covered with wounds that would not heal, and when they finally started to give me medications, those caused inflammation of the digestive system.
I was kept in a solitary cell. For more than two months and 15 days I had no way to communicate with anyone except for the prison administrators and the special services. I was kept in solitary confinement, in captivity, under torture, each day like another horror movie.
We could continue telling our story here for hours about the illegal investigations in Russia and about the fate of other young men and women who were near us. To other Ukrainians who end up as prisoners of war in Russia, I can give only one piece of advice: it’s best not to end up there at all, because it is useless to count on a fair trial or humane treatment.
To the international community, I appeal with a plea and a request to fight for those prisoners of the Kremlin who are still in captivity, to support their families, and to maintain the sanctions against Russia until such time as the Kremlin will meet its commitments. Do not forget about the innocent people suffering in Russian prisons every day.
I thank you very much.