Editing Openai/69308db5-477c-800f-b552-ae4a78b3e443 (section)

=== 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 ====
# Targeted arrests of activists or community helpers.
# Filtration checkpoints: phone search, tattoos, language.
# 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:
# Exchange — extremely rare (300 civilians out of 6,099).
# “Legalisation” — charges invented months after disappearance.
# 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.