Lubinets appealed to the UN and international institutions after the verdict of three teenagers from Melitopol
The Russian Federation has sentenced three teenagers from temporarily occupied Melitopol, who were accused of “terrorism”. According to Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, the children received 7-8 years in prison. After that, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada sent letters to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President of the ICRC, and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.
As the Ombudsman reported, these appeals contain a call to give a clear international legal assessment of the actions of the aggressor state. These are three children from temporarily occupied Melitopol, who were accused of “terrorism” in fabricated cases. At the time of their detention, they were 16-17 years old.
Dmytro Lubinets stated that for more than two years, the teenagers were held in inhumane conditions, beaten, tortured and subjected to psychological pressure.
“It breaks my heart that this is how our children are being treated. They were tried as citizens of Russia. In a closed trial. Without the right to fair defense. They were punished for being Ukrainians,” the Commissioner’s statement said.
The Ombudsman also emphasized that Russia is not limited to fabricated cases and sentences.
“We We remember how in temporarily occupied Berdyansk, Russian invaders brutally killed two 16-year-old teenagers — Tigran Hovhannisyan and Nikita Khanganov. They were accused of a fabricated “preparation of sabotage on the railway”. Russian cruelty knows no bounds.
And this is only part of Russia’s repressions on the TOT. Thousands of children are being kidnapped and deported to Russia. Their documents are being changed. They are being forced to speak Russian and become citizens. They are being militarized. They are being forced to wear uniforms, participate in training and propaganda events. They are being turned into an instrument of war,” the Ombudsman recalled.
Lubinets emphasized that children who retain their Ukrainian identity Russians punish, torture, isolate, and intimidate with beatings, threats, and fear. According to him, this is a systemic policy, international crimes against children and gross violations of international law, in particular the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Geneva Conventions.
“I appeal to the entire international community: you must see these children not as statistics, but as human destinies; you must do everything to ensure that every deported or forcibly displaced, illegally convicted child is returned to Ukraine.
We must protect their rights and bring the perpetrators to justice. The world cannot stand aside when Ukrainians are being destroyed before our eyes. We will not stop until every child returns home – alive and free,” Lubinets emphasized.
Earlier, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced three teenagers from temporarily occupied Melitopol, who were accused of “terrorism”.
