A senior Ukrainian official says the body of British national Paul Urey, a humanitarian volunteer who died in the custody of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's Donetsk region in July, shows signs of torture and severe beatings.
Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a post on Telegram that Urey's body, which was handed to Ukraine on September 7, is "missing body parts and has numerous cuts."
Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk had said the 45-year-old Urey died on July 10 of "illnesses and stress," and added later that he died of "coronary artery disease that got severe due to pulmonary congestion and cerebral edema."
"I can say with full responsibility -- it was a violent death. A human being simply cannot survive this kind of torture. I saw the photo of the deceased's body, and there are no doubts.... The torturing to death of volunteer Paul Urey is a war crime that will be further evidence at the future trial of Russia's political and military leadership," Lubinets wrote, adding that forensic experts are still trying to determine Urey's exact cause of death.
Urey was captured at a Russian military checkpoint in eastern Ukraine as he and another British volunteer, Dylan Healy, were driving to help a woman and two children, according to the nonprofit Presidium Network, a U.K.-based humanitarian group with which he was affiliated.
"We are disturbed by reports that aid worker Paul Urey may have been tortured in detention. It is essential that we see the results of a full postmortem as soon as possible," Sky News quoted a Foreign Office spokesperson as saying.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on September 7 that Kyiv "will identify perpetrators of this crime and hold them to account."
Urey's family has accused the Russian government and those who held him in custody of killing him. They say he had diabetes and that those who captured him were aware of his condition as he had insulin in his possession at the time of his capture.
Healy has been charged by a Russian proxy court in the Donetsk region with attempting to "seize power by force" and "taking part in armed conflict as a mercenary."
His court case will reconvene in October. He faces the death penalty if convicted.