Stanislav Aseyev, a Ukrainian writer, journalist, and former soldier, recently embarked on a perilous journey to Syria to document the atrocities of Sednaya prison, often referred to as a “human slaughterhouse.” This mission was particularly poignant for Aseyev, who had previously endured torture in Izolyatsia, a clandestine detention facility in Russian-occupied Donetsk.
Following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Aseyev became the first Ukrainian journalist to access Sednaya prison. His expedition began with a flight to Beirut, followed by a meticulously planned drive to Damascus, navigating areas fraught with Russian forces and trafficking groups. The Shaman Battalion, Ukraine’s elite foreign intelligence unit, was tasked with ensuring his safety during this mission.
Sednaya prison, established in 1987 near Damascus, gained infamy after the Syrian Civil War erupted in 2011. The facility’s capacity swelled from 1,500 inmates in 2007 to nearly 20,000 a decade later. Amnesty International reported that between 5,000 and 13,000 people were executed there between 2011 and 2015. The prison’s infrastructure was designed for mass detention and systematic elimination of prisoners, making it the largest concentration camp since World War II.
Aseyev’s visit revealed harrowing conditions: prisoners confined in narrow filtration cages, systematic progression through different facility levels, mass executions, and body disposal systems. He encountered families desperately searching for missing relatives, highlighting the ongoing human tragedy. The fate of tens of thousands of detainees remains unknown, with many presumed to have perished within the prison’s walls.
Drawing parallels between Sednaya and Izolyatsia, Aseyev noted both facilities employed systematic torture, though differing in scale and methods. Izolyatsia, once a cultural center in Donetsk, was seized by Russian-backed forces in 2014 and transformed into a secret prison for civilians, journalists, and ex-soldiers accused of opposing the occupation. Detainees suffered severe beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, and other forms of physical and psychological torment.
Aseyev’s personal ordeal began in 2017 when he was kidnapped and imprisoned in Izolyatsia for his reporting on life in occupied Donetsk. After two and a half years of systematic torture, he was sentenced to 15 years on fabricated espionage charges but was released several months later in a prisoner swap.
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