Prisoner reveals sighting of Kherson mayor in FSB captivity

In Ukraine, a significant revelation has emerged regarding the fate of Ihor Kolyhaiev, the mayor of Kherson, who was kidnapped by Russian forces. On April 25, 2022, following the seizure of the Kherson City Council building, Kolyhaiev initially managed to operate remotely from within the city until his abduction on June 28, 2022. Subsequent to his kidnapping, it was reported that Kolyhaiev was held in a secret prison located in the basement of a Federal Security Service (FSB) building in Simferopol, Crimea. The confirmation of the mayor's detention came from an individual who spent 2.5 years in this clandestine FSB facility. This person was recently able to escape and return to Ukraine, and claimed to have seen Kolyhaiev during his time in the prison. According to an assessment by war crimes documenter Hanna Mamonova of the Laboratory for Public Interest Journalism, the individual reported that Kolyhaiev was still alive during their sighting. This important information adds to the understanding of Kolyhaiev's situation, which has been shrouded in secrecy since his kidnapping. The FSB's involvement in housing political prisoners has raised serious concerns about human rights violations in the occupied regions of Ukraine. Reportedly, the conditions in the prison were dire, with makeshift partitions instead of real cells, no sanitary facilities, and interrogation techniques that included physical abuse and polygraph tests. The FSB employs officers sent from Russia to oversee the interrogations of detainees, reflecting a systematic effort to maintain control over captured individuals, including those who are politically significant like Kolyhaiev. The existence of such secret prisons and the treatment of detainees have become focal points for discussions surrounding the conduct of Russian forces in the ongoing conflict. With the last confirmed sighting of Kolyhaiev occurring in the spring of 2024, the Russian government's denial of the existence of the prison and attempts to obscure Kolyhaiev's location underscore the broader strategy of concealment employed in these abductions. The overarching implication of this case illustrates the profound challenges facing Ukraine's political figures as the conflict continues to evolve with alarming narratives of abduction, detention, and violation of civil rights.