“Desecration of Memory”: Lubinets Calls on EU to Impose Sanctions Over Filming a Movie in Mariupol’s Drama Theater

Ukraine's Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, has protested Russia's decision to film a movie in Mariupol's Drama Theater, a site of mass killings during the war. Lubinets described this as a desecration of the victims' memory and an attempt to turn a crime scene into a set for denying the atrocities. He sent letters to international organizations urging them to evaluate Russia's attempt to falsify the circumstances of the theater's destruction and to consider this during the documentation of Russian war crimes.

Lubinets emphasized the need to include this issue on the European Union's political agenda and to potentially add individuals, media outlets, and other entities involved in misleading campaigns to falsify and deny Russian war crimes to the EU's sanctions list. The disaster occurred on March 16, 2022, when Russia dropped 500-kilogram aerial bombs on the theater, which was home to hundreds of civilians, including children, women, and the elderly.

The Russians were aware of the civilians but proceeded with the attack, resulting in around 600 deaths, with some survivors estimating the toll to be even higher. Russia has been spreading the false narrative of an "inside detonation" since the attack, setting the stage for disinformation.