Amnesty International denied allegations by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security that their report was based on the testimony of people under pressure in the occupied territories.
This is stated on the website of the organization.
"Amnesty International categorically denies these accusations, which have no basis and are completely false," the representatives of Amnesty International emphasize.
They assure that none of the people they interviewed were in Russian prisons, infiltration camps or in the occupied territories, to which Amnesty International, according to them, does not have access.
"All testimonies were given to us voluntarily and in safe conditions," the organization notes.
Amnesty International also assured that it unequivocally condemns the invasion of Russia as an act of aggression and a crime under international law.
- On August 4, Amnesty International published a report in which it accused the Ukrainian army of violating humanitarian law and creating danger for civilians by placing military bases in residential areas, schools and hospitals.
- In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called the report unfair, and the adviser to the head of the Office of the President, Mykhailo Podolyak, added that the only ones who put Ukrainian civilians at risk are the Russian troops.
- The Defense Minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, called Amnesty Internationalʼs report evidence of a "loss of adequacy" and an attempt to destroy his own authority.
- The head of the Ukrainian office of Amnesty International, Oksana Pokalchuk, resigned, and the head office of the organization was hit by a flurry of criticism.
- On August 7, Amnesty International apologized, but General Secretary Agnes Callamar said that the organization had been attacked by Ukrainian and Russian "trolls" on social networks. After that, Ukrainians launched a flash mob calling for Callamarʼs resignation.
- On August 10, the co-founder of the Swedish branch of the human rights organization Amnesty International, Per Vestberg, also announced that he was resigning because of the scandalous report on the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He worked there for almost 60 years.