Collaborator Implicated in the Torture of Detainees at Illegal Prison "Izolyatsia" Arrested

Brazhnikov was held at the prison from April 2017 to December 2019. According to former detainees, he held a privileged status, was recruited by the prison administration, and participated in the torture and ill-treatment of prisoners. In December 2019, he was released as part of a prisoner exchange — and those freed alongside him immediately reported his crimes to Ukrainian authorities. After the pre-trial investigation was completed but before a verdict was reached, Brazhnikov managed to leave Ukraine for France, where he applied for asylum.

The arrest was made possible through the joint efforts of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, FIDH, Truth Hounds, and the French human rights organisation LDH, which had alerted the French authorities to his presence on French territory four years earlier. Together with Ukrainian prosecutors, they interviewed victims, while the Ukrainian side provided additional case materials to strengthen the evidence.

This marks the first instance of Ukraine officially referring a case to a third state for criminal prosecution. Brazhnikov has been indicted on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and complicity in their commission. He is currently in pre-trial detention, and the case is being handled by an investigating judge of a specialised division of the Paris court.

What has been happening at the address of the IZOLYATSIA Foundation in Donetsk since 2014 — torture, imprisonment, destruction — will not go unpunished. This arrest is proof: borders do not protect perpetrators of crimes against humanity from accountability.

Photo: D. Sergeyev, Izolyatsia industrial site, Donetsk, 2011