The Torture Camp on Paradise Street

Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev was imprisoned from 2015 to 2017 in a concentration camp set up by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk. He spent most of that time in Izolyatsia—a defunct insulation materials factory that the Russians converted into a torture camp.

In The Torture Camp on Paradise Street, Aseyev’s story exposes Russia’s brutal actions against Ukraine, long before the war began in 2022. Torture, isolation, rape, and psychological abuse have been routinely deployed by Russians against Ukrainians since 2014 in what can be described as a genocidal war. Aseyev’s moving story is also a reflection on how a person can survive atrocities and return to the world to share their experiences while maintaining their humanity.

This memoir is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the price of truth in the occupied Donbas.