The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets informed that he was leaving the European Ombudsman Institute and wrote a corresponding letter there.
He explained the decision by the fact that one of the board members of the Institute illegally took two Ukrainian children to Russia who were in Austria due to Russian aggression. This was done by the general secretary, member of the board of the EIO Dr. Josef Siegele. Lubinets noted that an official investigation has been launched against him.
Lubinets also demonstratively cut his membership card of the organization.
He called Siegeleʼs actions a violation of the Geneva Convention on the Protection of the Civilian Population in Time of War, which have the characteristics of genocide, since children could be forcibly removed.
According to the Ukrainian ombudsman, the EIO did not conduct an internal investigation and did not impose sanctions on Siegele, and the president of the organization did not respond to Lubinetsʼ requests.