SBU serves in absentia suspicion notices on occupying 'ex-DPR minister' and accomplices for deporting 35 Ukrainian children to Russia
The Security Service of Ukraine has documented new war crimes by officials of Russia’s occupying administration in the temporarily seized territory of Donetsk region who were involved in the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, the SBU said.
"The individuals are Mykhailo Kushakov, a citizen of the aggressor state and so-called ‘ex-minister of education and science of the DPR’, and two accomplices: Oleksiy Kulemzin, head of the ‘DPR administration of the city of Donetsk’, and Raisa Prylypko, director of the Teremok Children’s Home No. 1 seized by the Russian forces," the Ukrainian security service said on its Telegram channel on Friday.
According to the investigation, on February 18, 2022, the suspects organised the unlawful removal of 35 children aged between 4 and 6 from the Donetsk preschool children’s home No. 1 Teremok to Rostov region.
"As the investigation established, the young children were placed in various social institutions in the aggressor state. Subsequently, with the assistance of Russia’s senior military and political leadership, 12 Ukrainian children were unlawfully transferred to Russian citizens under the guise of guardianship," the statement said.
In doing so, the SBU stressed, the suspects flagrantly violated the requirements of Article 49 of the Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which prohibits the forcible transfer or deportation of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power.
On the basis of evidence gathered by the Security Service, all three suspects were served in absentia suspicion notices under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (war crimes committed by a group of persons in conspiracy).
"Since the suspects are hiding in Russia and in the temporarily occupied part of Ukrainian territory, comprehensive measures are ongoing to bring them to justice for crimes against our state," the SBU said.
The investigation was conducted under the procedural supervision of the Office of the Prosecutor General.