THE HAGUE: Ukrainian prosecutors on Friday charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes over the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans from the formerly-occupied southern city of Kherson, some of them as young as one.
They are the first suspects to be charged by Ukraine, which says more than 19,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-held territory, officials told Reuters.
The charges brought by Ukraine’s prosecutors follow a wider investigation carried out in cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Court, the chief prosecutor of which visited the Kherson Children’s Home.
On Friday, the charges were filed in Ukraine, a pre-trial stage when prosecutors determine there is sufficient evidence to suspect a person of committing a criminal offense.
The ICC, the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal, issued an arrest warrant in March against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, accusing them of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from orphanages and children’s homes in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
The Kremlin on Wednesday again dismissed allegations that Russia had violated children’s rights in Ukraine and said that, on the contrary, its armed forces were rescuing children from conflict zones.
Prosecution documents seen by Reuters allege 48 orphans were taken from the Kherson Regional Children’s Home in September and October and re-located to Moscow and Russian-occupied Crimea.
If proven, this is a violation of the laws and customs of war under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and punishable by up 12 years in prison under Ukrainian law, the document seen by Reuters said.
The current whereabouts of the orphans, ranging from one to four years old, is uncertain, prosecutors said.
“It was not a one-day event. 48 children who were in the Kherson Region Children’s Home were forcibly displaced, deported,” Yuliia Usenko, head of the department for the protection of children’s interests in Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office told Reuters. “We don’t know how these children are, in what conditions they are kept, or what their fate is.”
They may have been illegally adopted by Russian citizens, or taken to Russian institutions, she said.
The public documents redact the names of the suspects, who are believed by prosecutors to be either in occupied Crimea, or Russia. Unlike at the ICC, trials in Ukraine can be held in absentia.
The bulk of the orphans were taken on Oct. 21, 2022 under the supervision of the lead, Russian suspect. They were loaded onto white Russian Ministry of Health vehicles and taken to Russian-occupied Crimea, the charges said.
Usenko said Friday’s move against the first three suspects was just the beginning. “We want to hold accountable all the war criminals, all the people that committed horrible international crimes against our Ukrainian children.”
Ukrainian prosecutors shared a video allegedly showing one of the suspects helping to load the children onto a bus marked with the pro-Russian symbol “Z.”
Ukraine brings first charges for deporting Kherson orphans
https://arab.news/mtca8
Ukraine brings first charges for deporting Kherson orphans
- The current whereabouts of the orphans, ranging from one to four years old, is uncertain, prosecutors said
- 48 orphans were taken from the Kherson Regional Children’s Home in September and October and re-located to Moscow and Russian-occupied Crimea
Pakistan killed over 80 militants in strikes on TTP camps in Afghanistan — official
- Saturday’s airstrikes followed a series of attacks inside Pakistan amid a surge in militancy
- The Afghan Taliban authorities accuse Pakistani forces of killing civilians in the airstrikes
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s airstrikes in Afghanistan destroyed seven Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) camps and killed over 80 militants, a Pakistani security official said on Sunday, with the Afghan Taliban accusing Pakistani forces of killing civilians in the assault.
Saturday’s airstrikes followed a series of attacks inside Pakistan amid a surge in militancy. Authorities say the attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, were carried out by the TTP and allied groups that Islamabad alleges are operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. Kabul denies this.
According to Pakistan’s information ministry, recent incidents included a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad, separate attacks in Bajaur and Bannu, and another recent incident in Bannu during the holy month of Ramadan, which started earlier this week. The government said it had “conclusive evidence” linking the attacks to militants directed by leadership based in Afghanistan.
“Last night, Pakistan’s intelligence-based air strikes destroyed seven centers of Fitna Al-Khawarij TTP in three provinces of Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost, in which more than eighty Khawarij (TTP militants) have been confirmed killed, while more are expected,” a Pakistani security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Arab News.
An earlier statement from Pakistan’s information ministry said the targets included a camp of a Daesh regional affiliate, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which claimed a suicide bombing at an Islamabad Shiite mosque that killed 32 people this month.
In an X post, Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani forces had violated Afghan territory.
“Pakistani special military circles have once again trespassed into Afghan territory,” Mujahid said. “Last night, they bombed our civilian compatriots in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, martyring and wounding dozens of people, including women and children.”
The Afghan Taliban’s claims of civilian casualties could not be independently verified. Pakistan did not immediately comment on the allegation that civilians had been killed in the strikes.
In a post on X, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires to Afghanistan Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani and lodged protest through a formal démarche in response to the Pakistani military strikes.
“IEA-MoFA (The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs) vehemently condemns the violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and the targeting of civilians, describing it as a flagrant breach of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity & a provocative action,” it said in a statement.
“The Pakistani side was also categorically informed that safeguarding Afghanistan’s territorial integrity is the religious responsibility of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; henceforth, the responsibility for any adverse consequences of such actions will rest with the opposing side.”
Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have escalated since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021. Pakistan says cross-border militant attacks have increased since then and has accused the Taliban of failing to honor commitments under the 2020 Doha Agreement to prevent Afghan soil from being used for attacks against other countries. The Taliban deny allowing such activity and have previously rejected similar accusations.
Saturday’s exchange of accusations marks one of the most direct confrontations between the two neighbors in recent months and risks further straining already fragile ties along the volatile border.
