Amnesty International on Sunday said it deeply regretted the outrage over its report on Ukraine, but stood by its allegations, based on four months of investigations accusing the Ukrainian military of endangering civilians. President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses the NGO of seeking “amnesty for the Russian terrorist state”. this RFI heard from the NGO spokesperson about the controversial document.
The report caused the head of Amnesty International (AI) in Ukraine, Ukrainian Oksana Pokalchuk, to denounce the document for unwittingly making Russian propaganda. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was infuriated by the NGO’s accusations, accusing it not of seeking the truth but of striking a wrong balance between the offender and the victim.
“Unless you live in a country occupied by invaders and tearing it apart, you probably don’t understand what it means to convict an army of defenders,” Pokalchuk said in his resignation. “I do not agree with the values of Amnesty International’s executives, so I have decided to leave the organization,” he said.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general, fully confirmed the results of the report, which was released on Friday, the 5th of the 4th.
Amnesty said in a statement on Sunday that “its priority in this conflict and any other conflict is to guarantee the protection of civilians.” “That was our sole goal when we published this latest research report,” Callamard said. “While we strongly stand behind our results, we regret the pain we have caused,” he continued.
“The laws of war exist in part to protect civilians, and that’s why Amnesty International urges governments to respect them,” he said. The NGO stressed that nothing documented “justifies abuses committed by the Russians.”
‘We are collecting evidence’
AI spokesperson Yolanda Vega said the document is based on evidence gathered at the end of extensive investigations that respect and follow the same rigorous and rigorous standards that all the organization’s work is subject to. RFI.
“Our investigative teams are working very firmly, as they have done since the beginning of the Russian occupation, namely, according to the fundamental principles of all Amnesty’s work: independence, impartiality and facts. And in this case. Investigative teams in these areas have seen at least five locations where Ukrainian troops are using hospitals and centers as bases.
“Our teams confirmed that there is still face-to-face activity and that it is prohibited. The use of hospitals or medical centers by the Armed Forces in a conflict is prohibited by international law. They also visited 29 schools and one of these 29 schools. On 22 they also confirmed the presence of military activity of Ukrainian forces.” said.
Russia has already been blamed
In June this year, Amnesty International accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine and said hundreds of victims had died in the brutal attacks on Kharkov, many of them with cluster bombs.
The report, titled “Anyone Can Die Anytime”, showed how Russian forces have bombed residential areas in Kharkov, killing and inflicting great damage since the start of their invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
In the current report, Zelensky reacted angrily, saying that the NGO put victim and perpetrator on an equal footing.
(with reports by Orlando Torricelli and AFP)
source: Noticias
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