Abuses against civilians and abductions are part of the Russians’ strategy in Ukraine, claim an increasing number of human rights activists.
We warn against strong impressions in this case.
A 19-year-old Ukrainian boy was captured by the Russians shortly after the invasion on 24 February last year. He lived in Kherson when the Russians captured the city. The boy’s family has told last year’s Nobel Prize winner Oleksandra Matviytchuk what happened.
As a Russian doctor watched, the prisoner’s blood was drawn so it could be given to Russian soldiers. The doctor did not intervene until the prisoner was close to fainting.
The story is one of many about Russian violations of Ukrainians’ human rights. The free Russian online newspaper Medusa writes that abuses against civilians are part of the Russians’ strategy in the occupied territories.
Not least civilians are captured and deported to Russia. Relatives are left behind who do not receive information about where the family members have gone.
The last year has FN, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International claimed the same.
Investigates nearly 1,000 incidents
Ukrainian lawyer Oleksandra Matvyychuk received the Nobel Peace Prize last year. She tells Metuza’s partner that her organization has received requests for help from 915 families. Everyone has experienced a family member being abducted by Russian soldiers.
According to Matvitsjuk, 306 of the abductees were later released.
Russian human rights lawyer Roman Kiselyov says he is working on around 70 cases where civilians have been abducted.
He says it looks like the Russians are arresting everyone they suspect of having ties to the Ukrainian defense forces.
Breaking the laws of war
The reports refer to incidents that should be investigated, the organizations write. We are talking about war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In addition to the abductions, they tell of sexual violence, torture, looting and other crimes against civilians. Russian killings of civilians and bombing of civilian targets have also been thoroughly documented by journalists and various organisations.
Lawyers tell about individual fates where young men have been arrested and taken to Russia. A 19-year-old boy was arrested in Kherson, while the Russians occupied the city. He was accused of treason. Some time later, the charge was changed to espionage. Now, after half a year in captivity, he is being investigated for murder.
The lawyer Kiselyov says that many of the abductees experience the same. He says they are in a “legal vacuum”.
Many of the stories indicate that the Russians almost routinely violate several Geneva Conventions. It is the international agreements that regulate the “law of war”.
Takes children from parents
– Separating children from their families, and forcing people hundreds of kilometers away from their homes, is further evidence of the serious suffering that Russia’s invasion is inflicting on Ukrainian civilians, says Agnès Callamard.
She is Secretary General of Amnesty International.
Callamard says that Russia’s invasion is itself a violation of international law. Offenses against individuals and families are now being documented.
She says the Russians have killed civilians in violation of international law.
– They have destroyed countless lives, separated families. No one is spared, not even children, she says
Sexual assault
After the New Year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a rapport where they document over 90 cases of sexual violence.
The UN says it is important that the abusers are investigated and punished.
– Serious violations of international law regarding prisoners of war, and hundreds of cases where civilians have disappeared or been illegally arrested have been uncovered, said recently UN Secretary General António Guterres.
On 20 March, the UN Human Rights Council will receive an updated overview of the situation in Ukraine.
Human Rights Watch writes that they are also investigating Ukrainian violations of human rights. The difference is that the Ukrainian government is taking the allegations seriously, and is cooperating with the investigators.
