'Welcome to Hell': Ukrainian teacher talks about torture in captivity 'DNR'

49-year-old teacher Natalya Karachor was accused of “espionage” and sentenced to 12 years behind bars, of which she spent almost two in captivity by militants of the so-called Donetsk Democratic Republic (DPR), says Air force.

Natalia (center) after her release on December 29, 2019. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine

On December 29, 2019, as part of the release of the hostages, Natalia returned to Ukraine. But only a year after her return, she decided to give her first interview: to tell about the arrest, interrogation and torture in captivity.

The beginning of the war in Donbass was met by Natalya Karachor in Shakhtersk, where she taught the history of Ukraine and law at a professional lyceum. All lectures were conducted in Ukrainian and did not hide her views from colleagues.

“I immediately put a bag on my head, handcuffs and into the car.”

“At the teachers’ meeting I said: Come to your senses, people, what are you talking about? What kind of Russia, “DPR”, what country do you have a passport of?! For me, the war already began then,” says Karachor.

In 2015, realizing all the risks, she moved to Kramatorsk, where she taught history at a local school, and helped volunteers every evening after work.

“I was a volunteer at the Kramatorsk Bee. We wove nets, collected help and prepared food for the front line. I just lived by it! When I wove nets for the first time, I simply cried. The girls say: why are you crying? For a year and a half I dreamed of helping.”

At school, Karachor organized patriotic events and invited the military. This outraged some parents, who accused the teacher of “war propaganda.” The military came to Natalya's defense. But in the end, she decided to resign of her own free will, so as not to aggravate the conflict.

A few months later, Karachor won an open competition for the post of chief specialist of the education department in Kramatorsk and became responsible for patriotic education.

“We've done a lot of work. I was proud of it. I saw the eyes of the children, their attitude towards the army, the country, towards their native land. The directors hated me and respected me. Working for show didn’t suit me.”

Even then, Natalya’s speech was gaining momentum online, in which she criticized school employees for the fact that some of them welcomed the so-called referendum. It was because of this video that Natalya was detained on April 4, 2018 - she returned to Shakhtersk, which is not controlled by Kyiv, to care for her husband, who had undergone two serious operations.

“Six machine gunners arrived home, two of them in civilian clothes. When I saw them, I immediately understood everything. I immediately put a bag on my head, handcuffs, and into the car.”

Natalia does not talk about her family for security reasons, because her husband remains in uncontrolled territory. Then a search was carried out in their house and they immediately found “evidence of espionage activities”: a Ukrainian flag, calendars with Ukrainian symbols, books “Airport” and “Cyborgs” and sheets with poems by Sosyura.

“They took a flash drive with my photos, calendars from volunteers with the words: “Donbass is Ukraine.” There were about 100 of them. They took the 1978 Kobzar Shevchenko and the flag of Ukraine. They also wanted to take my embroidered shirts, but changed their minds.”

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Natalya was accused of 12 articles, the main one being “espionage.” The interrogation was carried out at the local MGB (formerly SBU) using so-called “ladders”. This is a type of torture in which the victim is hung higher and higher by the lower back on a hook with his hands cuffed.

"This is very painful. They wanted me to say the names of the people from the SBU for whom I allegedly worked. They knew that I taught Ukrainian in Shakhtersk, that I was at the Donetsk Maidan, that I taught in Kramatorsk. I was accused of participating in a terrorist organization, because I surrendered military positions, of an attempt on the state system of the “DPR” and even of undermining the military registration and enlistment office.”

The reason for accusations of extremist activity against Natalya was her photo on Facebook with the poster “Shakhtersk is Ukraine,” which she held at the Okean Elzy concert in Kramatorsk. The investigators did not like the phrase: “The guys there believe you, they are waiting for you. There will be peace!

“The verdict states that with this poster I allegedly encroached on security and tried to undermine the territorial integrity of the DPR.

“Turn your face to the wall, we’ll shoot you”

After interrogation in Torez, Natalya was sent to Izolyatsia. This is a notorious prison in Donetsk, where the MGB special operations forces base is located. The woman was kept in the basement for almost a month and a half and was summoned for interrogation once a week.

“They were wearing balaclavas and had a strong Russian accent. They beat me hard. One day they gave me an A4 sheet of paper, where it was written that Ukraine had started a civil war, that it was killing its citizens and mocking those who spoke Russian. I should have said this on the Rossiya-1 channel and then they would have let me go. I told them that I wouldn’t say this for one reason. I have a grandson and I don’t want him to grow up and be told: your grandmother betrayed Ukraine. Better kill me here."

The so-called “supreme court of the DPR” sentenced Natalya to 12 years in prison. Such sentences, according to human rights activists, are made “as a carbon copy” and have nothing to do with justice.

Pro-Russian “investigation” bodies violate almost all the main articles of the European Convention: the right to life, the prohibition of torture, the right to freedom and personal security.

“Every case is a farce. In my practice, there is not a single prisoner who does not complain about torture during interrogation: psychological or physical. Every second person was forced to work,” says lawyer of the Human Rights Group “SICH” NGO Yulia Polekhina.

“Cartoon” courts hand down harsh sentences based on dubious evidence. For them, a person is a priori “guilty” even at the stage of detention and has no right to defense,” she adds.

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“Besides me, there were two rats living in the basement. I talked to them"

One day the teacher was taken out of the basement and transferred to another cell. As explained: to be shot.

“They put me up against the wall. They say turn your face to the wall and we will shoot you. I prayed and asked my daughter for forgiveness that I would never see her again. Well, we shot... with blanks. They hit me with the butt of a machine gun, I lost consciousness, and when I opened my eyes, I was already in the basement. Besides me, there lived two rats. To keep from going crazy, I talked to them. She named them Masha and Misha.”

Every morning and every evening, Izolyatsia prisoners were forced to sing the Russian anthem. This was a kind of entertainment for the guards.

“When I got into the cell, I heard how the guys were being bullied. Every night I heard the guys screaming. It’s simply impossible to put into words.”

Journalist and blogger Stanislav Aseev, who spent two and a half years in captivity of pro-Russian forces and was released on the same day as Natalya, described in detail the torture in Izolyatsia in his book The Shining Path.

Stas says that “Isolation” is a round-the-clock conveyor belt of torture, where both men and women are abused.

“I know that women were constantly beaten, although most often it was the men’s cells that were opened at night: they beat them, drove them under bunks, and forced them to bark like a dog. They forced us to sing the Russian anthem, and before that we sang various Soviet songs. This was done intentionally to cover the screams from torture.”

“They told me: “Welcome to hell!”

Once Natalia was forced to stand in the cell for 48 hours without sitting down, and the teacher fainted.

After being examined at the hospital, the woman was not returned to Izolyatsia: instead, she was sent to a pre-trial detention center, and later to the Snezhnyansk correctional colony. There Natalya learned what forced labor was.

“They told me: “Welcome to hell!” There has always been a “special” attitude towards political ones. For the first two weeks, every day I carried 20 buckets of coal for one kilometer, 2 cubic meters of firewood, and collected leaves with my hands. Then she worked in a sewing shop where they sew military uniforms and tricolors. True, I always did marriage.”

There were six other women in the cell with Natalya - mostly for serious crimes: murder, drugs, robbery. Natalya gradually taught them to read.

“At first I read The Little Prince aloud to them. Then I look: they can make four mistakes in one word. I say: and you will tell me about Ukraine and big politics?! So, every day they have to read this piece to me and retell it! And they read. And when I left, they cried: “You are a real teacher!”

Natalya says that during 1 year, 8 months and 26 days of imprisonment, she formulated three rules for herself that helped her survive in captivity: “be silent, accept the rules of the game and believe that everything will end soon.”

All this time, the husband, together with Natalya's father and her daughter, did everything to get the woman out of captivity: they attracted international organizations, the ombudsman and human rights defenders.

Natalia was released on December 29 last year. However, until the moment when she saw her relatives, she had to endure a long nine hours of waiting in Gorlovka. Until recently, no one knew if the exchange would take place.

“I heard behind my back from the FSB officers that the exchange was cancelled. When I saw our military and the Ukrainian flag, tears rolled down my eyes. I couldn't believe it was true. She got off the bus and shouted “Glory to Ukraine!”

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Now Natalia lives in Kramatorsk and works as a methodologist. She gave her daughter 100 hryvnias of compensation from the state for an apartment. She herself lives in a hostel for migrants. She is sad for her husband, but cannot return home, because she will be immediately arrested.

“I love my land very much. My dream is for my daughter and grandchildren to live in a legal, European state. So that our language can be heard everywhere, people respect the history, traditions and customs of our people. Patriotism cannot be bought, it comes from the heart!”

Currently, according to the SBU, 253 people remain in captivity in the territory of Donbass not controlled by Ukraine. Among them are 25 women. In addition, another 111 people are being held in Russia and annexed Crimea for political reasons.

No one is going to set a date for the next exchange, and the high hopes for release in December have not justified themselves, human rights activists say.

Among the prisoners there remain many people with serious diagnoses - although such prisoners should be released outside of all exchange processes.

Now the prisoners, as noted by Alexandra Matviychuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties, face a difficult task: to survive until the next round of negotiations.

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