Journalist says he was kidnapped, tortured by Russian troops for over a week

Reporters without Borders, also known as RSF, says a fixer working for Radio France in central Ukraine was kidnapped and held in a forest and a cold cellar by Russian troops for nine days, during which he was tortured.

The fixer, who is given the alias “Nikita,” has worked for several French media outlets in Ukraine, providing translation services and helping foreign reporters parachuting into the country to get stories.

According to the account, which RSF says was corroborated through reporting, the fixer was nabbed after his car was hit by machine gun fire. Over some nine days, he was repeatedly beaten by soldiers pummeling him with rifle butts and cutting him with a knife, tied to trees, stuck in a water-filled basement, shocked and interrogated as a spy, and forced to sign a confession.

“A soldier rolled Nikita’s right trouser up to the knee and another gave him electric shocks. With his face pressed to the ground, Nikita was unable to see what instrument was used to administer the electric shocks, but he counted three or four shocks, each lasting five to 10 seconds. The pain was such that every second felt like an eternity,” the account reads.

He was eventually taken to the forest and released. A Russian soldier who found him as he tried to reach help forced other Ukrainians in a car to take him, threatening to kill him if they did not take him.

RSF says the account is being submitted to the International Criminal Court.

“Nikita has given us a chilling testimony that confirms the intensity of the war crimes perpetrated by the Russian army against journalists,” RSF secretary general Christophe Deloire says in a statement.