GENICHESK, May 30. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) maintains torture chambers inside at least two police precincts in the city of Kherson, Alexander Malkevich, a freelance adviser to the acting governor of the Kherson Region, told TASS on Tuesday.

"All our sources confirm that there are torture chambers at least at two Kherson police precinct houses, but, apparently, more [such torture facilities] exist. They were established before the New Year. And now, unfortunately, these chambers are operating at full capacity," said Malkevich, who also serves on the Russian Civic Chamber.

According to him, although no details are available about the number of people killed in such places or how many may still be held in them, it is known that local businessmen and family members of those Kherson city residents who evacuated to the left bank of the Dnieper River are among those being held prisoner. Additionally, many of them are on bad terms with their relocated relatives.

The economics of how the SBU operates in Kherson is based, in part, on blackmail, Malkevich said. Apart from the "light" version of blackmail, wherein a person is summoned to appear at one of these "police" stations to be told how big of a bribe he or she must pay to prevent criminal charges being filed against them, on some occasions individuals are simply thrown into the basement and their families are told to put up bail to buy their freedom. "When converted to Russian rubles, bailout sums range from 100,000 to 300,000 or reach up to a million," Malkevich added.