Oksana Pokalchuk, head of Amnesty International in Ukraine, announced her resignation after the NGO’s report accused Ukraine’s armed forces of endangering civilians, angering Kiev.
“I resign from Amnesty International in UkraineOksana Pokalchuk said in a press release published on her Facebook page between Friday and Saturday night, accusing her of inadvertently delivering the report published on August 4. “Russian Propaganda”. .
Amnesty said on Friday it fully believed its report, which accused the Ukrainian army of endangering civilians by installing military infrastructure in populated areas to resist the Russian invasion.
The publication of the document the day before caused the anger of Kiev. President Vladimir Zelensky went so far as to accuse the NGO of “attempted amnesty for a terrorist state” in Russian, putting “the victim and the aggressor on a somewhat equal footing“.
“Unless you live in a country ruled by the occupiers who carve it up, you probably don’t understand what condemned the army of defenders.added the head of Amnesty Ukraine. He said he tried to convince the Amnesty International leadership that the report was partial and did not take into account the views of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
According to him, Amnesty finally “sent a request to the Ministry of Defense“but he has”too little time was given for an answer“. “Therefore, the organization unwittingly published a report that seemed to unwittingly support the Russian version. Seeking to protect civilians, this report has become a Russian propaganda tool– he laments.
In an earlier Facebook post, Ms Pokalczuk claimed Amnesty had ignored her team’s calls not to release the report. “Yesterday I naively hoped that everything could be sorted out and this text would be replaced by another one. But today I realized that it won’t happen“, he adds.
On Friday, the general secretary of the NGO, Agnes Calamar, assured that the conclusions of the report are:based on evidence from extensive investigations, subject to the same rigorous standards and vetting process as all Amnesty International work“.
In a report after a four-month investigation, Amnesty accused the Ukrainian military of setting up military bases in schools and hospitals and launching attacks from populated areas, which it said violated international humanitarian law.
Source: Le Figaro
