The Russians are accused of violating the laws of war

A growing number of human rights activists claim that abuses against civilians and kidnappings are part of the Russians’ strategy in Ukraine.

“Send my mother home from captivity,” the poster reads. In January, the 45-year-old woman was taken away by soldiers. The family lived in Dnipro, eastern Ukraine. Photo: Hanna Arhirova, AP/NTB

03/06/2023 15:45

Update 03/06/2023 17:19

We warn against strong impressions in this matter.

The Russians captured a 19-year-old Ukrainian boy shortly after the invasion on February 24 last year. He lived in Kherson when the city was captured by the Russians. The family of the boy, last year’s Nobel laureate Oleksandra Matveychuk, told what happened.

As a Russian doctor witnessed, a prisoner’s blood was drawn so that he could be turned over to Russian soldiers. The doctor did not intervene until the prisoner was about to faint.

The story is one of many about Russian violations of the human rights of Ukrainians. Free Russian newspaper online Medusa He writes that the abuses against civilians are part of the strategy of the Russians in the occupied territories.

At least civilians are not captured and deported to Russia. Relatives who do not receive information about where family members have gone are left behind.

last year United nationsAnd Human Rights Watch And Amnesty International claimed the same.

In early March, Ukrainian police investigated a mass grave in a village outside Kiev. Photo: Vadim Gerda AP/NTB

It investigates nearly 1,000 incidents

Ukrainian lawyer Oleksandra Matveychuk was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year. She told Meduza’s partner that her organization has received requests for help from 915 families. Everyone witnessed the kidnapping of a family member by Russian soldiers.

According to Matviczuk, 306 of the abductees were later released.

Russian human rights lawyer Roman Kiselyov said he is working on about 70 cases in which civilians have been abducted.

He says it appears that the Russians are rounding up anyone suspected of having links with the Ukrainian defense forces.

Break the laws of war

Reports indicate incidents that need to be investigated, organizations write. We are talking about war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In addition to kidnappings, they talk about sexual violence, torture, looting and other crimes against civilians. The Russian killing of civilians and the bombing of civilian targets has also been meticulously documented by journalists and various organizations.

Aftenposten was present when the dead civilians were taken from the Ukrainian city of Bucha. They were killed when the city was occupied by Russian troops. Photo: Jan T. Espedal

Lawyers talk about the individual fates as the young men were captured and taken to Russia. A 19-year-old boy was captured in Kherson during the occupation of the city by the Russians. accused of treason. After some time, the charge was changed to espionage. Now, after half a year in captivity, he is being investigated for murder.

Lawyer Kiselyov says that many of the abductees suffer from the same experience. He says they are in a “legal vacuum”.

Many stories indicate that the Russians routinely violate many of the Geneva Conventions. International conventions govern the “law of war”.

Russian soldiers in Kherson in May. After Ukraine retook the area last fall, many stories circulated about the occupiers’ brutal treatment of Ukrainian civilians in the city. Photo: AP/NTB

Children take from the parents

Separating children from their families and forcing people to move hundreds of kilometers away from their homes is further evidence of the grave suffering caused by the Russian invasion of Ukrainian civilians, says Agnes Callamard.

She is the Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Callamard says the Russian invasion is itself a violation of international law. Crimes against individuals and families are now being documented.

It says the Russians have killed civilians in violation of international law.

– They have destroyed countless lives, breaking up families. She says no one was spared, not even the children

A man in civilian clothes lies dead, tied from behind, after the Russians withdrew from Bucha in April 2022. Photo: Zohra Bensemra, Reuters/NTB

sexual assault

After the new year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights A a report Where they documented more than 90 cases of sexual violence.

The United Nations says it is important that the perpetrators be investigated and punished.

Gross violations of international law with regard to prisoners of war, revealing hundreds of cases in which civilians disappeared or were illegally detained, He said recently United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres.

On March 20, the UN Human Rights Council will receive an updated overview of the situation in Ukraine.

Human Rights Watch wrote that they are also investigating Ukrainian human rights abuses. The difference is that the Ukrainian government takes the allegations seriously and is cooperating with investigators.