Russia sentences three teenagers from Melitopol for “terrorism”: Ukrainian ombudsman sends letters to UN

The Russians have “sentenced” three children from temporarily occupied Melitopol to 7-8 years in prison. Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets sent letters to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President of the ICRC, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.

The letters call for a clear international legal assessment of the Russian Federation’s actions, the Ukrainian Ombudsman for Human Rights reported.

Three children from temporarily occupied Melitopol, accused of “terrorism,” received harsh sentences in fabricated cases. At the time of their detention, they were 16-17 years old.

The Ombudsman notes that for more than two years, the teenagers were in inhumane conditions: they were beaten, tortured, and psychologically broken.

Dmytro Lubinets added that Russia does not stop at fabricating cases and sentences.

“We remember how in temporarily occupied Berdyansk, Russian soldiers brutally killed two 16-year-old teenagers – Tigran Hovhannisyan and Nikita Khanganov. They were accused of a fabricated “preparation of sabotage on the railway”. Russian cruelty knows no bounds.

And this is only part of Russia’s repressions in the temporarily occupied territories. Thousands of children are kidnapped and deported to Russia. Their documents are changed. They are forced to speak Russian and become citizens. They are militarized. They are forced to wear uniforms, participate in training and propaganda events. They are turned into an instrument of war”, the ombudsman recalled.

Lubinets said that those who remain Ukrainian are punished, tortured, isolated, intimidated by the Russians with beatings, threats and fear. These actions are a systemic policy, international crimes against children and gross violations of international law – from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to the Geneva Conventions.

“I appeal to the entire international community: you must see these children not as statistics, but as human destinies; you must do everything to ensure that every deported or forcibly displaced, illegally convicted child is returned to Ukraine.

We must protect their rights and bring the perpetrators to justice. The world cannot stand aside when Ukrainians are being destroyed before our eyes. We will not stop until every child returns home – alive and free,” Lubinets stressed.

Earlier, the Southern district military court in Rostov-on-Don announced the verdict of three teenagers from the temporarily occupied Melitopol, who were accused of “terrorism.”