Officials served with notice of suspicion over deportation of 35 Ukrainian orphans to Russia

Ukrainian prosecutors have served a notice of suspicion on the organisers of the illegal deportation of children from Donetsk Orphanage No. 1 Teremok on the eve of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Source: Office of the Prosecutor General on Facebook

Details: Thirty-five minors were taken to Russia at the time, the Office of the Prosecutor General said.

The investigation established that the deportation had been planned in advance with the assistance of Russia's top political leadership. The head of the institution was also involved.

The evacuation was announced on 18 February 2022. Two days earlier, an appeal had been recorded and an order issued to take the children to Rostov Oblast in Russia. For this purpose, the education minister of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a self-proclaimed Moscow-backed quasi-state formation in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, suspended the educational process and ordered the minors' transfer.

The removal of the children from the institution was personally coordinated by the head of the pseudo-administration of the city of Donetsk. The director of Teremok accompanied them during the transfer. In total, 35 children from the orphanage were deported to Russia.

The children have still not been brought back to Ukraine, and 12 of them were adopted by Russian citizens. In particular, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry recognised the deportation of children from Teremok before the start of the full-scale invasion as a war crime.

The so-called DPR's education and science minister, the head of the so-called DPR administration and the director of the orphanage were served with a notice of suspicion under Article 28.2 and Article 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for violating the laws and customs of war by a group of persons acting in collusion.

The article carries a sentence of 8 to 12 years' imprisonment.

Background: Ukrainian law enforcement authorities have been verifying information on more than 19,000 cases of the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia. It has been reported that the figure is not final as the analysis continues.

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