Zelenskyy denounces Amnesty’s selectivity and shifting blame from perpetrator to victim

ALONA MAZURENKO – THURSDAY, 4 AUGUST 2022, 22:34

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denounced the selectivity of Amnesty International’s report. He believes that the organisation is in effect granting amnesty to a terrorist state and shifting blame from the perpetrator of crimes to their victim.

Source: Zelenskyy’s video address

Quote: "Today we saw a report from Amnesty international which, unfortunately, represents an attempt to grant amnesty to the terrorist state [i.e., Russia - ed.] and to shift blame from the aggressor to the victim of aggression.

There are no conditions – even hypothetical – under which any Russian attack on Ukraine can be justified.

Aggression against our country is unprovoked, predatory, and openly terroristic. And any reports which present the victim and the aggressor as allegedly in some way equal and that analyse information about the victim while ignoring the actions of the aggressor cannot be tolerated…

The Russian army did not even stop at striking a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, cemeteries even... Even the camp with prisoners of war in Olenivka. And, for some reason, this has not been included in any reports: this is immoral selectivity.

Anyone who grants amnesty to Russia and contributes to creating an information space in which terrorist attacks come to appear as justified or understandable must realise that their actions are playing into Russia’s hands. And anyone producing such manipulative reports shares the responsibility for the deaths of civilians with Russia."

Details: Zelenskyy said that on 4 August the Russian forces struck a bus stop in the city of Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast, killing eight civilians and wounding three children, among others.

President Zelenskyy believes that the attack was another terrorist act that deliberately targeted civilians, and yet no international reports denouncing this and other crimes committed by Russia have materialised.

He also reported that Russia has destroyed a total of almost 200 religious buildings, almost 900 hospitals, and over 2,200 schools and other educational establishments.

Earlier:

• On 4 August, Amnesty International released a report which states that Ukrainian forces have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, as they repelled the Russian invasion.
• Meanwhile, Amnesty International fails to even mention anywhere on its website – let alone denounce – the recent killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivka.
• The Office of the Ukrainian President has said that it is only the Russian army that is putting the lives of Ukrainians in harm’s way and has added that the claims made by Amnesty International directly participate in Russia’s campaign to discredit Ukraine. Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has said that he was outraged by the claims made by Amnesty International and that he considers them wrongful.
• Amnesty International has also stated that it was "not aware that the Ukrainian military who located themselves in civilian structures in residential areas asked or assisted civilians to evacuate nearby buildings – a failure to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians".

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