PACE recognizes deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and arrest warrant for Putin as genocide

Today, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution that expands the circle of countries where Putin is officially considered a suspect in war crimes, a member of the Ukrainian delegation said.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) officially recognized the warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said a member of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, People’s Deputy of Ukraine Oleksiy Goncharenko. He wrote about this in Telegram .

According to him, today PACE adopted an extremely important resolution regarding the forced deportation of Ukrainian children and adults to Russia. “The most important thing from the resolution: for the first time the term “genocide” is mentioned in relation to the actions of the Russian Federation in an official document of this level. The resolution notes that, according to international law, forced deportation is a sign of genocide, therefore all cases must be investigated, and all those involved must be held accountable “, – Goncharenko emphasized.

He also noted that the Parliamentary Assembly welcomes the decision of the International Criminal Court on the arrest warrant for Russian President Putin and Russian children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.

“And this is one of the most important decisions of PACE in this resolution. Not all PACE members are countries that have ratified the Rome Statute. (The Charter under which Putin’s arrest was issued). And it is the adoption of this resolution that expands the circle of countries where Putin is officially considered a suspect in war crimes. Putin is a wanted war criminal, and PACE has now confirmed this,” Goncharenko stressed.

Tribunal over Russia – what is known

On January 19, the European Parliament voted for a resolution to create a tribunal for the top leadership of Russia, in particular Putin, for crimes and aggression against Ukrainians. The votes of 427 MEPs were recognized for the document, 19 voted against, 33 abstained.

The resolution also refers to bringing to justice the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and the leadership of Belarus as a state, from the territory and with the support of which Russia is waging war against Ukraine.

(C)UNIAN 2023