"I hope Siegele will be arrested": Lubinets on Ukrainian children sent from Austria to Russia

He shared the update in an interview with Radio NV.

Lubinets said that he received information that the European Ombudsman Institute representative, Josef Siegele, was behind the deportation of two Ukrainian children from Austria. He noted that the children had the legal right to remain in the Austria: they had been registered in accordance with all due processes and the Austrian authorities were aware of this.

"These children are from the Luhansk region. Before Austria, they stayed in the Lviv region for some time. There were written parental permissions for the relevant Ukrainian authorities to send them to live in Austria," said Lubinets.

He added that they are currently trying to find out how Siegele physically transported the children to Russia. It is assumed that they traveled by plane via Ankara.

"He flew to Moscow and personally handed them over to Russian representatives. It’s like a personal child delivery from Europe to Moscow," Lubinets said.

Also, Lubinets wrote two letters to the President of the European Institute and the Ombudsman of Serbia demanding to clarify the situation. He asked them to convene a meeting and exclude Siegele from the organization.

Lubinets' letters received formal replies. The first letter stated that "Siegele was not representing this organization when he did this." The second was an unofficial email message that said that "they cannot provide an answer, because the computer data is blocked."

"I realized that the president of this organization supports the actions of Josef Siegele, so I cannot support this organization," Lubinets said.

Then he wrote a letter to all members of the organization, in which he called on them to resign. Lubinets publicly tore up his membership card. He also thanked the ombudsman of Latvia and Lithuania, who also left the European Institute, and emphasized that now a number of other Ukrainian colleagues are preparing to leave the organization.

"I believe that all those who in a way maintain a connection with a terrorist country should publicly acknowledge it. And let the society judge them," Lubinets emphasized.

He also noted the reaction of the Austrian authorities to the scandal involving the deportation of children to the territory of Russia. Criminal proceedings have already been started, and Siegele's attorney's license has already been suspended. In addition, computer equipment was taken from him, which is currently being checked.

"I hope that Siegele will be arrested as someone involved in kidnapping two Ukrainian children. This is how I interpret this situation. He physically exposed the Ukrainian children and handed them over to the representatives of the terrorist country – Russia," he concluded. 

• On January 30, during a meeting in Strasbourg with the director of the Council of Europe's anti-discrimination department of the General Directorate for Democracy and Human Dignity, Dmytro Lubinets discussed the issue of the Ukrainian children deportation with him.  

• On February 8, Lubinets announced that he would leave the European Ombudsman Institute. This happened after the illegal removal of two Ukrainian children from Austria to the Russian Federation