Russia accused of genocide for the deportation of Ukrainian children

The French association “For Ukraine, for their freedom, for ours!” seized the International Criminal Court (ICC), Wednesday 21 December. Accuse Russia of genocide for “Especially serious facts of forced transfers of Ukrainian children to Russia”according to the file consulted by Publication. The authors of the text demand that Russian President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Defense Chief of Staff Valeri Guerassimov, the head of the “Special Military Operation in Ukraine”, Sergei Surovikin, philosopher Timofei Sergeyitsev, who invokes the “denazification” of Ukraine, and Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Russian Federation, are prosecuted.

An investigation already underway

The dossier presented by the French association to the ICC aims to contribute to the preliminary investigations launched in March by prosecutor Karim Khan. These are facts of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Russians in Ukraine. In the 22-page document presented to prosecutor Khan, members of the French association describe the abuses of which “assumed goal” and of “Russify”, “denazify” and “de-Ukrainize” minors. Facts “capable of constituting the predicate offenses of genocide and crimes against humanity”, specify, based on articles 6 and 7 of the Rome Statute, the international treaty establishing the ICC.

Thousands of children affected

According to PublicationUkrainian sources estimate that some 240,000 children have been deported to Russia since February 24. “Among these, only 13,112 could be identified by name, as of December 10, by the Ukrainian government, and 119 would have returned to Ukraine. » When questioned by the newspaper, the lawyer Emmanuel Daoud, adviser to the association that seized the CPI, specified that “Russians summon more than 700,000 displaced Ukrainian children”. Families would be paid to adopt these young Ukrainians during express adoption procedures, which would take just one day. Of the “complete the changes in marital status by modifying surnames, first names, dates and places of birth” they even get operated on, he adds. “It’s a cancellation strategy.”

Cover image: Unsplash / Ben Wicks