“You Don’t Exist”: Arbitrary Detentions, Enforced Disappearances, and Torture in Eastern Ukraine

The 56-page report, “‘You Don’t Exist’: Arbitrary Detentions, Enforced Disappearances, and Torture in Eastern Ukraine,” is based on interviews with 40 victims of abuses, their family members, witnesses, victims’ lawyers, and other sources. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented nine cases of arbitrary, prolonged detention of civilians by the Ukrainian authorities – including some cases of enforced disappearances – in informal detention sites and nine cases of arbitrary, prolonged detention of civilians by Russian-backed separatists. Most of the cases detailed in the report took place in 2015 and the first half of 2016.