The mayor of occupied Dniprorudne in southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast died from closed blunt trauma to the torso with multiple rib fractures and damage to his lungs and pleural membranes while held in a Russian detention facility.
Methods documented across detention facilities include severe beatings with metal implements, electric shocks, deprivation of food and medical care, sexual violence, and inhumane conditions.
Russian authorities employ these practices to extract information, suppress resistance, and instill terror in the captive population, with international organizations condemning the treatment as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A significant portion of bodies returned from captivity show signs of torture.
Yevhen Matvieiev had been held for 2 years and 8 months after Russian forces captured Dniprorudne in late February 2022 after the full-scale invasion. The city, located on the Dnipro River in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, remains under occupation.
He died on 7 September 2024 in pre-trial detention facility No. 3 in Kizel, Perm Krai, Russia.
The cause of death was closed blunt trauma to the torso with multiple rib fractures, lung damage, and damage to the pleural membranes, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General's response to an inquiry from Ukrainian media LIGA.net.
Two Ukrainian servicemen released from captivity told investigative outlet Slidstvo.Info that Matvieiev was beaten shortly after his transfer to the Kizel facility during what they described as an "intake" procedure. The same detention center held journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna before her death from torture.
The Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration reported in December 2024 that Matvieiev's body had been returned to Ukraine. He was buried in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast.
OSCE “horrified” by details of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna’s death in Russian captivity
"This is a war crime and a crime against humanity"
Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets addressed the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross following the prosecutor's disclosure.
"This is not simply a violation of human rights — this is a war crime and a crime against humanity, committed deliberately and cynically," Lubinets stated. He noted that lung damage and multiple fractures do not occur spontaneously.
Lubinets said Russia violates the Geneva Convention through its illegal detention of Ukrainian civilians and confirmed that multiple deaths of detained civilians in Russian custody have been documented.
Matvieiev was first elected mayor of Dniprorudne in 2006 and won re-election twice, most recently in 2020 representing the Opposition Platform — For Life party, which has since been banned.
After the occupation began, Matvieiev remained at his post organizing civic services and defense operations. Russian forces abducted him at a checkpoint in March 2022, and his location remained unknown until late 2024.
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Methods documented across detention facilities include severe beatings with metal implements, electric shocks, deprivation of food and medical care, sexual violence, and inhumane conditions.
Russian authorities employ these practices to extract information, suppress resistance, and instill terror in the captive population, with international organizations condemning the treatment as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A significant portion of bodies returned from captivity show signs of torture.