GENEVA: The new head of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday said she was prepared to go to Moscow to discuss access to prisoners of war (POWs).
Mirjana Spoljaric, who took the ICRC reins in October, told reporters in Geneva she had personally been “speaking with Russian counterparts.”
“I intend to go to Moscow, when the moment is there,” she said.
Speaking at ICRC headquarters just days after returning from Ukraine, she said the organization was intent on gaining access to POWs taken by both sides since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last February.
“We are in daily conversations at different levels, because access to prisoners of war is an ongoing engagement,” she said.
“There is never a suspension or an end to that.”
Visiting POWs is core to the ICRC’s mission enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, which define the laws of war.
The organization has been repeatedly criticized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the ultra-sensitive subject of POW visits.
He has accused the organization of not pushing hard enough to gain access to Ukrainian troops captured by Russian forces.
Responding indirectly to that criticism, Spoljaric stressed the difficulty of the task and the dangers facing ICRC teams on the ground when visiting prisoners.
“If the ICRC doesn’t come, it is not a choice,” she insisted.
“We have to receive adequate guarantees and competent reassurances that our convoys will not be hit while trying to get to these facilities.”
The ICRC has long complained that it lacks sufficient access to those held by the warring parties and while it said last week there had been some progress, Spoljaric said far more was needed.
“We are determined to access all prisoners, no matter where they are,” she said, adding, “We also want to access civilians detained.”
She stressed it was vital that ICRC teams are not just allowed to go into each detention facility once, but that they are given repeated access.
Asked about the potential for a prisoner exchange of all detainees on both sides, the ICRC president would not comment on whether such a move was being discussed.
But she highlighted that large-scale prisoner swaps have happened in past conflicts.
“It’s not something which the ICRC can predict or can comment on but as a possibility it is certainly there,” she said, pointing out that past prisoner exchanges had proved to be a powerful confidence building measure.
“And very often, an all for all exchange constitutes the first step to a broader agreement.”
New Red Cross chief says ready to go to Russia for POWs
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New Red Cross chief says ready to go to Russia for POWs
- Mirjana Spoljaric, who took the ICRC reins in October, told reporters in Geneva she had personally been "speaking with Russian counterparts"
- Visiting POWs is core to the ICRC's mission enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, which define the laws of war
Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro undergoes double hernia surgery
- He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure
- The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours
SAO PAULO: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is undergoing double hernia surgery on Thursday at a hospital in the country’s capital, his family said.
Bolsonaro, who has been hospitalized since Wednesday, has been serving a 27-year prison sentence since November for an attempted coup.
He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure. The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours, the DF Star hospital medical team said in a statement Wednesday.
Doctors say Bolsonaro’s double hernia causes him pain. The former leader, who was in power between 2019 and 2022, has gone through several other surgeries since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in 2018.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and sentenced him to prison, authorized the procedure, but denied the former president’s request for house arrest after he leaves the hospital.
Bolsonaro doesn’t have any contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, where he is held and where his 12-square-meter (around 130-square-foot) room has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a television and a desk, according to authorities.
He has free access to his doctors and lawyers, but other visitors must receive approval from the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, de Moraes authorized Bolsonaro’s sons to visit him while he’s hospitalized. His wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, is accompanying him.
Early Thursday, his eldest son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, told reporters before the surgery that his father had written a letter confirming he had appointed him as his political party’s presidential candidate in next year’s election. Flávio Bolsonaro announced on Dec. 5 that he will challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term, as the candidate of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
The senator read the letter to journalists, and his office released a reproduction of it to the media.
“He represents the continuation of the path of prosperity that I began well before becoming president, as I believe we must restore the responsibility of leading Brazil with justice, resolve and loyalty to the aspirations of the Brazilian people,” Bolsonaro said in the handwritten letter, dated Dec. 25.
The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system following his 2022 election defeat.
The plot included plans to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and de Moraes. There was also a plan to encourage an insurrection in early 2023.
Bolsonaro was also convicted on charges that include leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.
