Russia refuses to return deported 14-year-old girl, plans to prosecute her

Dmitry Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman), said that the Russians opened a lawsuit against a deported Ukrainian 14-year-old girl. Under this "pretext", they refuse to return the teenager to Ukraine, Dmitry Lubinets said on air during the national 24/7 news broadcast. As the Ombudsman states, the girl was examined by doctors without the permission of her parents, and now other Ukrainian children are not allowed to see her.

"We showed [at a meeting of the UN Security Council] a photo of this girl. She is 14 years old, and she was taken away quite consciously by the Russians. They deliberately keep her in captivity.

Because when we began to deal with the issue of her return home, Russia allegedly opened criminal proceedings against her there," he said.

Lubinets stressed that the Russians are holding the girl hostage and claim that they will not return the child until the completion of the "court case". "Just think about cynicism: a mother in Ukraine; she is looking for her child, and the Russians, knowing this, come up with some kind of court case, only in order not to give the Ukrainian girl [back - ed.]," he said.

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Lubinets believes that the UN should not only express deep concern, but also create an effective mechanism for the return of Ukrainian children home.

In particular, a special mission that would go and take Ukrainian children from the territory of the aggressor country. Recently, the story of a Ukrainian orphan teenager from Mariupol was heard at the US Congress. The invaders also took the child to their territory.

When the boy tried to cross the border, he was detained by Russian security forces and forcibly returned to the Russian Federation. In total, Russia has deported more than 19,000 underage Ukrainians. Most were moved together with their legal representatives.

However, more than 400 children have already been "adopted" by Russians.

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