– The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is proud to announce its support for "Izolyatsia", a documentary that chronicles the grim transformation of the eponymous cultural site into one of Europe’s largest centers of repression and torture.
– The film will have its premiere screening on November 10, 2026, at 8:00 p.m., at the Espace Saint-Michel (Paris).
– Following the screening, a discussion will take place with director Igor Minaev, Madeleine Bressat (FIDH Legal Action Group), and François Croquette (Amnesty International France)
Paris, 9 November 2026. In this previously unseen documentary, Igor Minaev presents the testimonies of survivors from Izolyatsia, a prison controlled since 2014 by members of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People’s Republic" (DPR). Former detainees recount the torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions they endured. These abuses form part of a systematic attack on the Ukrainian civilian population and, according to the Ukrainian and French judicial authorities as well as numerous NGOs, could constitute crimes against humanity.
The documentary directly relates to the judicial investigation being conducted in France against the Ukrainian separatist Yevhen Brazhnikov, who is under investigation for crimes against humanity and war crimes and is suspected of having committed acts of violence against Ukrainian detainees at Izolyatsia, in which the FIDH is a civil party.
Following the collapse of the USSR, Izolyatsia, a former insulation materials factory, became a leading centre for contemporary art in Ukraine. Since 2014, the year of the illegal annexation of Crimea, Izolyatsia has been occupied by armed fighters from the DPR, supported by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, who have transformed it into a vast military complex used for illegal detention.
"Igor Minaev’s documentary is essential: it highlights the reality of the crimes committed since 2014 at Izolyatsia, which the FIDH and its member organisation Truth Hounds have been documenting and denouncing for several years", says Madeleine Bressat, a lawyer with the FIDH’s Judicial Action Group."The testimonies gathered in this film are also invaluable in contributing to the investigation currently underway in France."
