Journalists identify Crimean pretrial detention center guards accused of abusing Ukrainians

Investigative journalists from The Kyiv Independent's war crimes unit have identified two employees of the security and supervision department at SIZO No. 2, a pretrial detention facility in occupied Simferopol, Crimea. The facility was opened by Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and, according to the report, holds civilians from the occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as well as Crimea itself.

In their investigative film "Crimea Regime," the journalists name the head of the security and supervision department, Leonid Kovekh, and his deputy as of 2023, Zhanat Akhmetov. Akhmetov is reported to be a Russian citizen from Omsk in western Siberia who relocated to Crimea after its occupation and previously worked at Simferopol's SIZO No. 1 before SIZO No. 2 opened.

Former detainees describe Akhmetov as especially cruel, repeatedly beating prisoners without provocation and knowing precisely where to strike to hit the liver or kidneys. Kovekh, a Ukrainian who sided with Russia after the occupation and holds the rank of senior lieutenant in Russia's internal service, allegedly supervised and controlled the beatings and torture at the facility, with some former prisoners claiming he personally took part in the abuse.

Harsh conditions

Former inmates describe SIZO No. 2 as an institution with severe detention conditions and constant guard control. They say detainees were held for long periods without contact with the outside world or access to lawyers, were forbidden from communicating with one another, and could only move through corridors in a so-called "swallow pose" — bent forward with hands raised high behind the back.

Prisoners were allowed to wash roughly once a week for about five minutes, and those who took too long were reportedly forced to run back to their cells naked. Former detainees also reported regular beatings, constant use of electric shocks, intimidation with dogs, lack of toilet paper and adequate medical care, and lights left on in cells even at night. Detainees were also forced to learn and sing the Russian national anthem.

In August, a representative of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center reported that two months of work had identified 12 previously hidden prisoners held in SIZO No. 2 in Simferopol. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has opened two new pretrial detention facilities in occupied Crimea — No. 2 and No. 8 — officially capable of holding up to 370 people, though the actual number held remains unknown. Russia reportedly plans to build another facility on the peninsula, with capacity for 1,500 people, by 2030.