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User: Write a detailed analysis with timestamps: Everyone has come out onto the square I’m showing you—everyone’s here.

Write a detailed analysis with timestamps: Everyone has come out onto the square I’m showing you—everyone’s here. So many people. Cars are driving by. No one is afraid 0:14 Kherson is Ukraine This is insane—climbing onto a Russian APC. Legend, man—absolutely legendary! 0:31 Remember these images? At the start of the full-scale invasion many Ukrainians in the newly-occupied territories came out unarmed 0:39 carrying their national flags, and protested against the Russian occupation And then the protests disappeared. In this investigation we’ll explain why 0:51 I’m Evgenia Chirikova, this is the Activatica project This is the second film, “The System of Terror,” in the “Prisoners” series 0:58 We’ll show you what is happening to thousands of Ukrainian civilians in Russian captivity 1:05 PRISONERS The System of Terror We learned almost immediately that people had begun to vanish in the occupied territories 1:15 Our Activatica team was helping Ukrainian refugees, and they kept telling us that one person after another was disappearing 1:23 They kidnapped my husband right from our flat. Six in the morning—we were asleep. A bang on the door … 1:32 We opened it, unsuspecting. There’s a huge shield in front of me— 1:41 five men with assault rifles, two in balaclavas, all armed He stepped out of the room and said, “Olha, I’ll be ten minutes.” He went out in a T-shirt, shorts, with his keys and phone … 1:54 About forty minutes later I start calling—no answer. His phone was already off 2:03 Anyone familiar with Russian reality knows that security forces grab anyone who might challenge the system 2:10 Usually the sequence is torture and interrogation, then a trial, and almost always a guilty verdict 2:18 We’re seeing the same pattern in the occupied territories of Ukraine—only far more brutal 2:25 They held him in Melitopol for two weeks. He was tortured—electric shocks, beatings, no food 2:36 They injected him with something, said it was “truth serum.” After two weeks they moved him to Simferopol, where they kept abusing him, making him “confess” to things he never did and never planned to do 2:54 They kept him for two and a half months in Kherson cellars. Beatings, humiliation…I know this now from his letters 3:04 Constant pressure, forcing him to sign things Then on 6 October they moved him for just a couple of days to Simferopol 3:13 From Simferopol they took him to Moscow’s Lefortovo, where he spent a year and a half awaiting trial 3:23 On 9 February 2024 they transferred him to the prison SIZO No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov region, where he is now 3:33 The Ukrainians are in the basement of that Rostov SIZO No. 1. No proper sewage, constant leaks. Everything’s wet, stinks, rats, cockroaches 3:50 Thirty people in a cell built for ten. They sleep in shifts or on the floor 3:57 On 14 February 2023 a show trial started in Rostov-on-Don, labelled “extremists and terrorists” in a single “group case.” 4:09 Civilians, like POWs, are tried by military courts in Rostov, Simferopol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Melitopol and Henichesk 4:18 Andrii has a lawyer, but sadly the lawyer’s role is just moral support, passing our messages 4:34 For more than a year hearings have dragged on with no clarity. They tried to speak about torture 4:48 but no one listened; they didn’t give them a single word What’s frightening is that a verdict is coming soon and we don’t know where he’ll be sent 4:57 We’re sure it’ll be a huge sentence - twenty, twenty-five years. We’ve no idea where they’ll ship him or what will happen. It’s very scary 5:10 In April 2025 the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Andrii Holubev to twelve years 5:19 The prosecution claimed he belonged to a “terrorist underground” and planned to blow up a vehicle near a humanitarian aid centre 5:30 This court churns out sentences against both civilians and POWs almost non-stop, and they’re often absurd: 5:39 things like “Violent Seizure of Power”—yet the sentences are very real In March 2025 the same court sentenced twenty-two Ukrainians—supposed “Azov battalion fighters”—eight of them women 5:55 Seven were cooks who only fed Azov soldiers; one was a storekeeper 6:02 Some media mockingly called it “The Cooks’ Case” It was so obvious the women were not soldiers 6:09 Even though some defendants were exchanged before trial, all the women returned to Ukraine— 6:14 and Russia still sentenced them in absentia for “Seizure of Power” and “Terrorism.” 6:21 The most common charges are “Espionage,” “High Treason,” and “Terrorism.” Several Ukrainian military units are officially branded “terrorist” in Russia, so any aid to them equals “terrorism” 6:36 We have documented 293 politically motivated criminal cases against Ukrainian civilian prisoners 6:43 There are actually more—we can’t count those the Russian press mentions without even a surname 6:52 Those 293 show trials are what they want us to see If you study only Russian official sources, most civilian-prisoner stories stay invisible 7:08 People simply vanish and never appear in court bulletins We grasped the severity only when we learned about the death of Tetyana Plachkova from Melitopol, told in our first film “Prisoners.” 7:23 She and her husband Oleh were abducted by Russian forces; Tetyana died in captivity 7:30 No cause was ever given. Oleh disappeared in Russian prisons My dad is Oleh Yuriiovych Plachkov, born 15 May 1970. He was kidnapped on 25 September 2023 7:46 To this day we have no information where he is, who’s accusing him, or why he was detained 7:54 At the start of the war we lived in the Kharkiv region, Izium district, Balakliia settlement, the village of Bayrak 8:09 My husband Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Zaporozhets was born in 1969. On 14 March 2022 we were walking home 8:24 He was ahead. I look up—about ten soldiers with rifles run at him, surround him 8:38 They led him to an armoured vehicle by the road. I was begging them to let him go. They said, “We’ll check him and bring him back in an hour and a half.” 8:52 We have had no information since—for four years now I’m Olena Viktorivna Shevchenko, mother of a civilian prisoner 9:02 On 15 March 2022 he was driving out of occupied Pology (Zaporizhzhia region) to Ukrainian-controlled territory 9:12 They pulled him from the car at the last checkpoint with no explanation: “You go no further.” 9:22 Russian soldiers put him in another vehicle and there’s been no contact since. For four years he’s been in captivity and no sight nor sound of him 9:38 Talking with relatives and rights advocates we realized that the occupied territories have an entire terror system aimed at civilians 9:50 Official investigation, criminal cases and courts are only the visible tip of the iceberg 9:57 Civilians are thrown into “pre-trial” remand prisons without even opening a criminal file 10:03 It’s a pseudo-legal system—secret. No open documents, which violates even Russian law 10:21 Military and civilian detainees are labelled in internal documents as “persons detained for counteracting the special military operation.” The term “POW” is absent. 10:36 No Russian law defines such a status, so there’s no legal regulation at all—it’s sheer arbitrariness 10:51 Escaping the system is almost impossible, but sometimes it happens This is Oleksandr Tarasov—journalist, activist, and rights defender from Kherson 10:59 He helped organise anti-occupation protests and distributed aid 11:04 Oleksandr was abducted off the street, becoming a civilian prisoner 11:10 The officers who interrogated him confessed, in a rare moment of honesty, that they were following Putin's orders 11:16 I asked: “But under your own Russian constitution you have seventy-two hours—then a court decides pre-trial measures; 11:33 within three days you must file charges.” “It’s written in your Constitution!” He says: “There’s a presidential decree: people hindering the Special Military Operation are to be isolated.” 11:55 I ask: “What’s higher—the Constitution or a presidential decree?” He says, “Don’t mess around with me. Understand, it’s war.” 12:07 I say: “War or ‘special operation’?” He says, “Don’t f*** around.” I say, “Got it.” For this film, our team gathered all available information and mapped the whole System of Terror 12:18 Courts and SIZOs form the “official” layer; most of it is hidden 12:24 We were able to map it thanks to testimony from rights advocates, relatives of civilian prisoners and those who managed to be freed 12:33 How do civilians enter the system? Any Russian security officer in occupied Ukrainian territory can grab any Ukrainian they dislike 12:44 But, the FSB, Rosgvardiya and military police manage this system of detentions 12:55 Once territory has been occupied, Russia deploys its agencies—FSB, police—and these bodies make detentions and mass arrests 13:18 Basically, the FSB runs it Their task is to identify anyone remotely “disloyal” in their view 13:28 It was the FSB; they later confirmed it. Between beatings they asked about “links to National Corps,” 13:41 “whom I know from Right Sector in Kherson,” “who was the leader of the Right Sector in Kherson,” 13:47 “who is a pro-Ukrainian journalist,” “who stopped,” “who coordinates protests in the organizing committee,” … 13:56 Of course I told them we had no organising committee They said: “In 2019 you met with National Corps about anti-capitulation rallies…” 14:13 There’s a pattern. The occupants detain people they deem a potential threat—around whom, 14:21 they believe, other Ukrainians might rally to oppose the regime. 14:28 You don’t even have to be a political activist—just socially active, helping others 14:37 I know a case where a man was driving water from Bucha to Hostomel for neighbours 14:47 They stopped him—bag over the head—and he’s still in a Russian SIZO 14:53 The second path of detention of Ukrainian civilians: “filtration.” They stop you, search you, check your phone 14:59 If they find something “suspicious,” you’re detained They just took him away. After, I waited some time at the border crossing in the bus with kids and others leaving the occupation 15:15 Everyone had passed the check, everyone came back to the bus— except my husband, for three hours. I went back and they said he wouldn’t go further. Maybe later 15:26 Even a tattoo can land you in a camp 15:32 During filtration they make you strip to show if you have tattoos; patriotic Ukrainian tattoos are a one-way ticket to a concentration camp 15:45 The third reason for detention: sheer arbitrariness A pro-war Russian (“Z”) blogger boasted on a live-stream 15:50 how he had a Ukrainian-speaking gas-station girl arrested just for speaking Ukrainian 16:18 Most detainees undergo so-called “special verification” and a “preliminary procedure.” 16:24 These terms don’t exist in Russian law but do on occupied Ukrainian soil 16:31 After abduction Oleksandr Tarasov was taken to the Kherson administration The treatment was very, very brutal. The torture lasted from about 4 p.m. till maybe 6 a.m.: nonstop beatings, hanging by handcuffs (“the strappado”), 16:55 the cuffs were not only behind the back but on the fingers for more pain, electric shocks—electrodes on the body, ears 17:08 After those long interrogations, around 6 a.m. they hung me by the cuffs 17:25 No idea how long I hung. Then they said: “We have to film you. 17:34 You’ll say on video what we tell you—or we bring your family here and do to them what we did to you.” 17:46 – Who are you? – I’m a blogger, civic activist, involved in the city’s public life 17:55 – Who organises the rallies in the city? – There are different levels. I understand there are official actions and the public level 18:05 – There’s Oleg, whom I know, who spoke publicly at a rally. Serhii Pavliuk 18:15 – But I know these rallies are coordinated by the Ukrainian Security Service to destabilise Kherson, 18:24 – provoke casualties so they can film it… I know for sure Kyiv orders these protests 18:38 Oleksandr speaks Russian in the video; since 2014 he’d switched fully to Ukrainian 18:45 Speaking Russian was a signal to friends that the “confession” was forced 18:50 Once the system thinks it has extracted enough, you may stay awhile at “sorting points,” listening to others being tortured 19:01 Then they put us in an IVS (temporary detention) In SIZO they threw me into solitary—no bunks, no sink, just a hole and a ledge 19:12 They gave one litre of water per day and a spoiled field ration—inedible 19:23 But that was the least problem. The main horror was nights: they’d start bringing in people—torture conveyor-belt 19:42 As soon as it got dark they brought more, tortured them. 19:52 You’d hear them beating—“Get up! I said stand!” And they’d beat them more 20:06 I’d just pace the cell; you can’t sit still, fearing they’ll open your door next. Understand, the psychological impact… 20:28 Well, you hope that it won't happen And you logically reassure yourself that they took the information they wanted from you 20:40 that you are no longer of operational interest... But at the same time, there is a feeling of helplessness, the inability to help someone 20:53 all these people whom they torment, whom they torture, who scream... 20:59 One man couldn’t stand the torture and hanged himself with his own clothes 21:08 I heard them drag the body away This happened in a short period, five days. I was there five days 21:18 And so after five days the man couldn't stand the torture and finished it himself 21:24 Even though he had nothing, only his own clothes, he did it as if to... 21:29 If the FSB gathers enough for a show trial, they open a criminal case: the “official” track 21:38 Let’s call such prisoners “Official,” because they appear in records 21:44 At the beginning of the film we talked about the fate of two of these prisoners For Ukrainian prisoners the situation differs greatly from Russian inmates 21:53 Russia denies lawyers to POWs, claiming the Geneva Conventions lack such rules 22:04 Civilians accused of “opposing the military operation” technically may see lawyers, yet authorities refuse visits 22:18 My colleagues tried via the courts. The Defence Ministry replies: 22:23 “Their location is classified—no info, no visits.” 22:30 So we learn conditions only from those freed in exchanges. 22:37 The path for “official” prisoners has two ways to end: exchange, or a Russian prison sentence—if they survive, of course 22:46 This is how exchanged Ukrainian POWs look on return—people who were on official lists, watched by international NGOs 22:57 If they look like this, imagine prisoners deprived of protection from advocates or their families 23:04 And what if there isn’t enough material for a case, or the system simply doesn’t need more? 23:13 Will they release the person? Sadly, no—they become “incommunicado.” 23:19 That happened to Oleksandr Tarasov “Incommunicado” is a term in international law: detention with no outside contact—no letters, no family or lawyer visits 23:30 It borders on enforced disappearance, a crime against humanity 23:37 Iryna Shvets’s husband vanished in Bucha in 2022 when it was occupied She found out he’s in Penal Colony No. 1, Tula region, in the city of Donskoi 23:46 Iryna received this information from two prisoners who were in jail with her husband and then exchanged 23:53

• They’re hidden there. The men who got out—National Guardsmen, border guards, emergency-service guys—they were in cells together

24:06

• They said there are more civilians than military

24:13

• Why do swaps keep happening with not a single civilian? How many years will it take?

24:22

• And how will they survive there, with such treatment? They are there, you see, they come out all thin and unhappy because of this

24:30

• They stand all day. 6 a.m. wake-up, and on their feet till 10 p.m., forbidden to sit

24:39

• Breakfast: a minute or two, lunch: a minute or two, dinner

24:45

• So you constantly stand, bending like this, you don’t have the right to look anywhere or lean

24:53

• They immediately run over and beat everyone if anyone leans on someone, everyone gets it

25:00

• At 10pm is lights-out, but they come at midnight, drag them out to stand again for 1-1.5 hours

25:17

• then at 6am, again

25:23

• Every day. People lose their minds - A lot of people can’t stand it, though some do and I simply don’t know how

25:34

• No medicine. Prisoners share bread. He says, “Sasha and I shared porrige.”

25:43

• I say, "What do you mean, you share each other?" - I say, "What do you mean, what did you treat each other to?" - «Someone wants to eat more today, so you spread porridge on bread, on a piece of bread, so that you eat more today. And someone else will eat tomorrow.»

26:00

• This is the 21st century. The authorities stuff their pockets while people just die

26:11

• And no one knows, everyone is silent. Every person has a right to a normal life

26:22 “Incommunicado” civilians are placed in facilities for “persons counteracting the ‘special military operation,’” same as POWs 26:31 There’s a closed network outside the formal prison service— 26:39 old colonies or SIZOs run not by FSIN but by military police and FSB 26:48 old colonies or SIZOs run not by FSIN but by military police and FSB 26:56 There detainees have zero rights, not even the minimum set of rights that are provided to a suspect or accused in a criminal case 27:05 The most infamous is SIZO No. 2, Taganrog—countless civilian and military prisoners passed through 27:14 Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna was held there and, it is believed, died there 27:19 Viktoria was abducted in 2023 from occupied territory After a year, she was reported dead in September 2024; in April 2025 Russia returned her body—missing part of the throat, eyes and brain 27:36 Another brutal jail is SIZO No. 2 in Simferopol In late October 2022 we were moved from SIZO-1 to SIZO-2—a special Ukrainian block inside a Simferopol colony 27:49 There is a special building for Ukrainians. Political prisoners 27:56 We were brought to SIZO-2. It is slightly easier there: no direct torture like in SIZO-1, but constant humiliation 28:12 They were constantly doing weekly searches in the cell, turning everything over, like an inspection 28:28 There is no connection with the outside world, nothing can come in 28:33 But, nevertheless, "searches". They organized these mass checks once every two weeks. They look through personal belongings 28:43 We have no parcels, we have no connection with the outside world, we are in isolation Not like the guys who were charged officially - they were separate, that is, they did not mix with us 28:54 And we, who are being held secretly, are separated from those who were charged officially - they have parcels 29:08 Those who have no article we are charged under, like us, have no parcels, no connection with the outside world 29:14 Tarasov spent a year in captivity, never officially charged 29:19 70-year-old Spanish volunteer Mariano García Calatayud found himself in the same situation 29:24 He was abducted in March 2022 in Kherson and became Oleksandr’s neighbor in Simferopol SIZO-2 29:32 He had heart and blood-pressure issues, constantly asked for a doctor 29:39 None came for days. Eventually a medic measured his pressure, gave Corvalol, some pills, and left… 29:54 They also forbade him to sit or lie on the bunk Later he was taken away; his wife doesn’t know where he is now 30:04 As of April 2025 rights groups know of more than 180 sites holding Ukrainian prisoners 30:11 The geography of the prison system is vast—the Kremlin seems intent on scattering prisoners across Russia 30:18 Maybe the prison system simply wasn’t ready to take such an enormous number of Ukrainian prisoners: 30:24 back in 2018 Russia launched a 55-billion-ruble expansion of detention centres 30:35 In 2022, two months after the aggressive invasion, they revisited the program and the budget doubled to 102 billion 30:45 Capacity in SIZOs likewise doubled—about 10,000 to 20,000 places 30:51 An extra 1,500-bed SIZO was planned for Simferopol, which Oleksandr spoke about, but corruption killed the project 31:05 In terms of cruelty, Penal Colony No. 7 in Pakino (Vladimir region) stands out 31:13 Journalists of the “Victoria Project,” in memory of Viktoria Roshchyna, gathered evidence: by autumn 2024 at least two Ukrainian prisoners had died there 31:28 “Welcome” beatings, forced Russian anthem singing, mock executions 31:38 UN OHCHR surveyed hundreds of returnees: 91 percent were tortured— 31:52 This is torture in the Truest sense. Beatings, electric shocks, often with water to increase pain; 32:04 burning off tattoos with flammable liquid; injections into tensed muscles—that is, medical staff used for torture 32:28 This isn’t rogue sadists—it’s systemic 32:40 Three former FSIN staff testified to the ICC that after the invasion a meeting told personnel: “You may torture, beat—no consequences.” 33:07 How many Ukrainians have been abducted? Answering this question was harder than we thought 33:14 I go by the ombudsman’s figure—15,000—but I think more, maybe around 30,000 33:39 There are no precise data. A person can be held for years without charge, no outside contact 33:54 Sometimes someone is freed and we’d give him relatives’ contacts so families at least know roughly where their loved one is 34:15 Ukrainian police often register such cases merely as “missing.” Why? They left the house and disappeared 34:28 Their location is unknown. There is no confirmation of captivity, no response from the Red Cross, no witnesses 34:35 This person may already be dead, that is, they may have been killed. Bodies of people who were kidnapped in 2022 are still being found in Kherson 34:45 They are found in floodplains, they are found in reeds. Exhumations are being carried out 34:50 There are whole pits where bodies were simply tossed They somehow identify these people through DNA tests 34:57 But until that moment, no one knew where they were or what had happened to them. That is, they disappeared and that's it My village is tiny, maybe 60 residents—three were taken: first my husband, then two others 35:14 I am in the "Civilians in captivity" group, there are 400 of us 35:23 There are people whose husband, son, or wife was taken away in the occupied territory without any explanation 35:36 Like, they just took them, and that’s it Some were taken from home, some like my son at the checkpoint. In most cases there is no information 35:47 Some of them have already been sentenced for “espionage”, for some made-up story—Russia punished them 35:58 About 100 or 150 out of 400 people 250 people in our group - there is no information at all 36:07 I have some news about my son from those released, but there are people who have not known anything for the fourth year 36:15 Like, they’re just “missing” and that’s it. A person was taken away, and that person’s just gone. That’s it 36:22 Well, 80 to 20 percent. TI’d say 80 percent are kept “off the books,” 20 percent “legalised” with criminal charges 36:34 I can judge this from my detention center 36:39 There were more than 60 people in our block. And then no more than a dozen were charged. Maybe even less 36:56 They were kept separately. But then someone was charged later, and so we come to statistics of about 20% 37:04 There is no single list. Volunteers and NGOs keep their own, but war and occupation make it hard 37:14 Russia hides numbers, rarely answers relatives. Never reveals their location 37:39 We ran calculations using Ukraine’s missing persons register 37:49 After adjusting for POWs and probable deaths, I usually cite 7,000 civilians 38:04

• We have no access to official Russian data

38:11

• We can name 15,000 civilians whose whereabouts are unknown

38:21

• We have partial info on 2,000 of them. These are not final figures

38:40 Tarasov’s rescue via international publicity is the exception 38:46 The system rarely releases prisoners By exchanges, 6,099 people have come home; only 300 were civilians (254 men, 46 women) 39:02 Outside exchanges, just 363 civilians have been freed (279 men, 84 women) 39:10 The FSB may open a case any time: 39:18 that’s why someone vanishes in March 39:23 but paperwork shows charges opened in September The third possible outcome for prisoners in the system of terror is death 39:33 Prisoner numbers only grow; the system is in no rush to try or free them 39:40 What’s next? History offers clues In 2024 historian and activist Oleg Orlov and Memorial published a major study of Russian wars in Chechnya, Syria and Ukraine— 39:55 showing how the repressive machine repeats itself in different places 40:03 Since the First Chechen War, enforced disappearances have been integral to Russia’s terror system. Exactly the same in Ukraine 40:30 The very idea of ​​creating filtration points where people are distributed, some to prison, others to freedom 40:41 Lists are prepared in advance for the territories where troops are going 40:56 Most likely, this system crystallised in the Second Chechen War 41:04 And this formed system was simply taken and transferred to the territory of Ukraine 41:21 During the Second Chechen War we documented 3,000 fully proven disappearances; extrapolation gets us about 5,000 42:06 When I say "forcibly disappeared," it means that the person was taken away by state agents, held in an unknown location, and then killed 42:20 These people were all victims of illegal, extrajudicial executions. At times, extremely cruel 42:29 How to stop this terror against the population? Liberate the territories. I see no other way 42:38 PRISONERS The System of Terror Today only families and rights defenders fight for civilian prisoners—ordinary people who have no idea what to do 42:53 While negotiations focus on frontlines and politics, human lives fall out of the equation 43:01 They will probably stay where they are—cellars and prisons, no light, no contact, hanging from ceilings, wired up. A death sentence 43:14 We don’t want to stay silent. Staying silent means supporting the System 43:20 Let’s speak up and save these people - I’m looking for my brother, Serhii Udovychenko, born in 1987 43:29

• I’m common-law wife of Mariano García Calatayud - To this day there has been absolutely no contact with him

43:34

• My ex-husband and father of my child was kidnapped - My husband Serhii Dorokhov is in Russian captivity

43:45

• My husband—a civilian caught under occupation - I didn’t know if he was even alive - My child vanished—and that was it

Assistant: Below is a clear, structured, timestamp-based analysis of the narrative you provided.

Below is a clear, structured, timestamp-based analysis of the narrative you provided. I treat it as the transcript of a documentary investigation. I break down the themes, evidence, mechanisms of repression, and the documentary’s argument chronologically so you can understand how the story develops over time.

Detailed Analysis with Timestamps

0:00–0:39 — Opening: Public Defiance, Early Hope

• The film opens with images of mass civilian protests in newly occupied Ukrainian territories: people unarmed, carrying flags, confronting Russian APCs.
• Tone: shock and admiration (“legendary”).
• Sets contrast: courage vs. what comes later, because the protests vanish.

0:39–1:15 — Transition: From Protests to Disappearances

• The narrator explains that the film will address why protests disappeared and what happened to civilians.
• Activatica and Chirikova introduce the investigative series “The System of Terror.”
• Early clue: civilians begin vanishing almost immediately after occupation.

1:15–2:03 — First Case: Home Abduction

• A woman recounts her husband’s kidnapping at 6 a.m. by armed men.
• Classic pattern: - No charges - Taken with only clothes, keys, phone - Phone quickly turned off
• This frames the abduction mechanism used throughout the film.

2:03–2:54 — Russian Security Playbook

• The narrator draws a parallel with Russia’s internal repression structure: - Torture → forced confession → staged trial → automatic guilty verdict.
• Applied in occupied territories but more brutal.

2:54–3:57 — Torture Pipeline: Melitopol → Simferopol → Kherson → Moscow → Rostov

• Victim’s timeline: - 2 weeks Melitopol: electric torture, starvation, drugs (“truth serum”). - Transfer to Simferopol: continued abuse. - 2.5 months in Kherson cellars: beatings and forced signatures. - Sent to Lefortovo (Famous FSB pre-trial torture facility). - Ends up in Rostov SIZO No.1 in horrific overcrowded conditions.
• The timeline reveals systematic movement of detainees through a network designed to break them.

3:57–5:19 — Show Trials in Rostov

• Rostov-on-Don’s Southern Military Court handles mass cases of POWs and civilians.
• Charges are absurd—e.g., “violent seizure of power” against cooks.
• Women sentenced in absentia even after returning to Ukraine.
• Shows legal theater where verdicts are pre-written.

5:19–6:36 — Scale of Political Criminal Cases

• Activatica documents 293 political cases, far short of the true number.
• Many detainees never appear in public records.

6:36–7:54 — Enforced Disappearances Begin

• Case: Tetyana and Oleh Plachkov.
• Tetyana dies in captivity with no explanation; husband disappears.
• Illustrates the ultimate aim of the system: total erasure.

7:54–9:38 — Ordinary People Disappearing

• More testimonies: - A husband seized while walking. - A man removed from his car at a checkpoint.
• Repetition emphasizes: anyone can be taken, with zero legal basis.

9:38–10:51 — “Pseudo-Legal” System

• Detainees placed in remand prisons without criminal cases.
• New “status”: persons counteracting the special military operation.
• This status does not exist in Russian law, meaning: - No rights - No timelines - No oversight
• The system functions entirely outside law.

10:51–12:18 — Testimony: Journalist Oleksandr Tarasov

• He is abducted for helping protests.
• Interrogators admit they are acting under Putin’s decree, not constitution.
• Tarasov points out the illegality; interrogators reply: “It’s war.”
• Confirms that Russian agencies view legality as irrelevant.

12:18–14:13 — Mapping the System of Terror

• Activatica identifies: - FSB as the central coordinator. - Rosgvardiya and military police assist. - Searches for “disloyal” individuals.
• Example: a man detained for delivering water to neighbors.

14:13–16:18 — Detention Paths

1. Targeted arrests of activists or community helpers.
2. Filtration checkpoints: phone search, tattoos, language.
3. Arbitrariness: e.g., Z-blogger boasting about arresting a cashier for speaking Ukrainian.

• Shows Russian aim: social intimidation.

16:18–21:29 — Torture Methodology

• Graphic testimony from Tarasov: - Beatings - Finger-cuff strappado - Electric shocks to ears and body - Filmed “confessions” under threat to family - Nights filled with hearing others tortured
• A man commits suicide after days of torture.
• This segment provides forensic-level details of torture methods.

21:29–23:04 — “Official” Prisoners

• Some detainees get criminal charges.
• They face sham legal processes with no lawyer access.
• Exchanged POWs come home visibly emaciated and mutilated—yet they are the “lucky ones.”
• Civilians without charges are in even worse conditions.

23:04–26:22 — “Incommunicado” Prisoners

• Civilians held secretly with no contact, equivalent to enforced disappearance.
• Case: Iryna Shvets’s husband in a Tula colony: - Stand all day 6 a.m.–10 p.m. - Beatings for any movement - One-minute meals - No medicine - Sleep deprivation
• Such conditions mirror concentration camp discipline.

26:22–30:04 — Secret Facilities Network

• Hidden SIZOs run by FSB/military, not by formal prison service.
• Infamous facilities: - Taganrog SIZO-2 (where journalist Roshchyna likely died) - Simferopol SIZO-2 (secret Ukrainian block)
• Spanish volunteer Mariano Calatayud’s case shows foreign nationals receive the same treatment.

30:04–33:07 — Russia Expands the Prison System

• Post-invasion Russia doubled SIZO capacity from 10,000 → 20,000.
• Allocation of billions reveals recognition of a long-term internment system.
• Testimony from former FSIN staff: they were explicitly told they can torture with impunity.

33:07–38:40 — How Many Civilians Taken?

• Estimates vary: - Ukrainian ombudsman: 15,000 - Some experts: up to 30,000 - Activatica: at least 7,000 with partial data
• Most are registered as “missing.”
• Bodies continue to be found in mass graves in Kherson region.

38:40–39:40 — Outcomes for Prisoners

Three outcomes:

1. Exchange — extremely rare (300 civilians out of 6,099).
2. “Legalisation” — charges invented months after disappearance.
3. Death — the least documented but widespread.

39:40–42:29 — Historical Precedent

• The system directly parallels: - Second Chechen War - Syria - Early Ukraine war (Donbas)
• Methods developed in Chechnya were imported wholesale to Ukraine.

42:29–43:20 — How to Stop It?

• Interviewee conclusion: Only liberation of occupied territories ends the terror.
• As long as Russia occupies land, civilians face: - Cellars - Torture - Disappearance - Execution

43:20–End — Call to Action

• Final montage of families searching for loved ones.
• Emphasis: silence = complicity.
• Goal: pressure public + governments to prioritise civilian releases, not just POW exchanges.

Overall Synthesis

The Documentary’s Core Argument

Russia has created a parallel illegal prison universe in occupied Ukraine that:

• Abducts civilians arbitrarily
• Tortures them systematically
• Disappears a majority without record
• Fabricates charges against a minority
• Hides them in an expanded network of secret detention sites
• Uses terror to break societal resistance

What Makes This System Unique

1. Scale: tens of thousands potentially.
2. Secrecy: most never appear in any document.
3. Hybrid legality: torture-first, paperwork-later.
4. Continuity: perfected methods from Chechnya → Syria → Ukraine.
5. Purpose: - Destroy civic leadership - Intimidate population - Prevent partisan resistance - Break Ukrainian identity

Documentary’s Emotional Arc

• Begins with courage
• Moves through horror
• Ends with plea for action

If you want, I can also:

✅ Create a shorter summary ✅ Extract key themes (torture, lawlessness, population control) ✅ Build a policy brief for advocacy ✅ Map the system visually (flowchart) ✅ Produce a case database of individuals named in the transcript

Just tell me what you’d like next.