Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine investigates stealing of Ukrainian children by Belarusian Red Cross

The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine has launched an investigation into the participation of the Belarusian Red Cross in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.

Source: Andrii Kostin, Prosecutor General on Twitter

Quote: "The participation of the Belarusian Red Cross in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from the territories occupied by the Russian Federation to Belarus is complicity in the commission of an international crime.

This organisation grossly violates the norms of the Geneva Conventions, as well as the fundamental principles of the Red Cross Movement. We hope that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will address this breach of integrity and take appropriate action.

For our part, we have launched an investigation to ensure that every case of forced displacement and/or deportation of Ukrainian children is held accountable."

Background:

• In June, the Belarusian Red Cross reported that more than 700 children from Ukraine had been brought to Belarus.
• Earlier, the Belarusian opposition reported that more than 2,000 Ukrainian children were deported to Belarus. They added that dictator Alexander Lukashenko personally signs documents related to the commission of a war crime.
• On 19 July, Belarusian opposition media reported that Dmitry Shevtsov, the head of the Belarusian Red Cross, went to the occupied territories and, on air of the Belarusian state television, confessed that the Red Cross of the country "exports and will continue to export" children from the occupied territories of Ukraine. Before that, during a previous trip there, according to Belarusian media, he was noticed in camouflage with the letter Z, widely known as the symbol of Ruscism.
• The International Red Cross launched an investigation after the last trip of Dmitry Shevtsov, the head of the Belarusian Red Cross, to the occupied territories of Ukraine, during which he confessed to have stolen Ukrainian children and taken them to Belarus.

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