The human rights organization Amnesty International accuses Moscow of war crimes by forcibly transferring civilians from Ukraine to Russia, considering that the situation may even constitute a crime against humanity.
In a report published this Thursday with the title “Like a Prison Train”, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Amnesty International denounces the “forced relocation and deportation of civilians from the occupied areas of Ukraine”, explaining that the transfers separated many children in their families and that there are currently a large number of “elderly people, people with disabilities and minors” struggling to leave Russian territory.
In the report, the international organization reveals accounts of some civilians who said they were forced to submit to abusive selection processes, known as ‘filtering’, which sometimes resulted in arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill-treatment.
“Separating children from their families and forcing the population to move to places hundreds of kilometers from their homes is further evidence of the serious suffering that the Russian invasion is causing to the Ukrainian civilian population,” underlines the Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, cited in the document.
“Since the beginning of this war of aggression against Ukraine, which itself constitutes a violation of international law, Russian forces have indiscriminately targeted and unlawfully killed civilians, destroying countless lives and tearing families apart. Nobody has been saved, not even the children. and girls,” she says.
“The deplorable Russian tactic of forced relocation and deportation is a war crime. Amnesty International considers that the situation should be investigated as a crime against humanity”, the official underlines.
Furthermore, Agnès Callamard argues, “all those who have been forcibly relocated and are still illegally detained should be allowed to leave” and “children in Russian custody should be reunited with their families and returned to areas controlled by the government”. “.
Finally, he stresses, “all those responsible for these crimes must be held accountable.”
To carry out the report, the NGO interviewed 88 people from Ukraine, mostly civilians from Mariupol, who described situations in which they had no real choice but to go to Russia or other areas occupied by Russian forces.
People detained during the “filtering” told Amnesty International that they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings, electric shocks and threats of execution, while others were denied food and water.
In early March 2022, the city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine was surrounded by Russian forces, making it impossible for the civilian population to leave the region.
The city was subjected to almost constant bombardment and there was no running water, heating or electricity.
A few weeks later, thousands of people got permission to leave, but when Russia occupied the city, it forcibly displaced part of the civilian population from the neighborhoods under its control to the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), recognized only by Russia. .
One such person was Milena, 33, who told Amnesty International about her experience trying to leave Mariupol.
“We started asking questions about the exit, where we could go (…). [Um soldado russo] He told me that I could only go to the DPR or Russia. Another young woman asked about other possibilities, for example for the Ukraine. The soldier interrupted her and said, ‘If you don’t want to go to the DPR or the Russian Federation, you will stay here forever,'” Milena is quoted as saying in the report.
Milena’s husband, a former marine in the Ukrainian armed forces, was arrested shortly after crossing the border into Russia and has yet to be released.
“The laws of armed conflict prohibit forced mass or individual resettlements, as well as deportations of protected persons from the occupied territory,” Amnesty International recalls in the report.
Another reported case is that of an 11-year-old boy, separated from his mother in April during the “filtering” and detained by Russian forces.
“My mother was taken to another place and they began to interrogate her. They told me that they were going to separate me from my mother (…) and I started to cry (…). They didn’t say anything about where they were going to take my mom from and I never heard from her again,” says the boy.
“Several people said that, once in Russia, they would feel pressured to apply for Russian citizenship”, a process that was simplified for minors suspected of being orphans or separated from their two countries and for some people with disabilities, according to the defense NGO human rights.
“This was done to facilitate the adoption of these children by Russian families, which is contrary to international law,” Amnesty International accuses.
“These actions indicate the existence of a deliberate Russian policy towards the deportation of civilians, including children, from Ukraine to Russia, suggesting that, in addition to the war crime of illegal deportation and transfer, Russia has also committed crimes against the humanity”. concludes the NGO.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.7 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from the UN, which places this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
Source: TSF
