Olha Politova, a 70-year-old resident of Donetsk, spent more than two years in captivity of the DPR militants, from 2015 to 2017. The woman with openly pro-Ukrainian views was stopped at a checkpoint when she, a medical doctor with many years of experience, was on her way home to the city from work in a frontline village. She was convicted of helping the Ukrainian military. After surviving the horrors of the ‘investigation’ and imprisonment, the doctor was released in December 2017 during a full-scale prisoner exchange.

"My life was divided into before and after the arrest. I lost my freedom. I experienced physical and psychological torture. I went through eight pre-trial detention centres. I was in prison with murderers and drug addicts. There were wardens there. They interrogated me. I knew what to say. They took me to three polygraphs, to the military prosecutor general, to the head of the terrorism department of the DPR Ministry of State Security. They could have just killed me and thrown me into a pit. I did not give anyone away, did not tell anyone.

At first, I was given 3 years and 10 months. Then there was the Court of Appeal. I was put on trial by the military tribunal of the DPR Supreme Court. On November 25, 2017, I received a new sentence of 5 years and 6 months.

I ate potatoes with mud, frozen fish. I learnt what hunger is. The water was only cold. Once a week, a steam bath. There was a sewerage system. It took 5 minutes to bathe and do laundry. There was no medical care. If you had a toothache, they just pulled out the tooth.

Ministry of State Security. Torture cellars. They stripped me naked, put me in bags, and put electrodes to my fingers. They tortured me with electricity. I lost consciousness. I was wet. Cold. February 2016. Before I could get dressed, they pushed me in the back. I broke my knees on the metal stairs. I was lying there for two days. It was hard to breathe. I felt bad. They took me to the Ministry of State Security again. The conclusion of the doctors: " She can stay in the detention centre for health reasons".

In total, I spent two years and a month and a half in prison: two years and three weeks in a detention centre, and three weeks in a women's colony in Snizhne. I was accused of terrorism," said Olha.