Editorial -- No Place for Extrajudicial Killings

The targeted killing of Russian political figure Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian nationalist and war cheerleader Alexandr Dugin, has no place in war. 

Trial International, a human rights group, says that life is the first and most fundamental right of individuals, without which no other right can be upheld. Thus, extrajudicial executions are a violation of this right. The state has the obligation to promote and protect the right to life. Unfortunately, Ukraine has not only refused to condemn the killing, they are criticizing those who do.

Extrajudicial executions can be considered a war crime in the context of an armed conflict. They violate such treaties as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Geneva Conventions, and the European Convention on Human Rights.

You don’t have to like or agree with the content that Alexandr Dugin or his daughter produced. But under International Law, there are no exceptions which would allow a country to commit an extrajudicial execution just because they don’t like what the victim is saying. By that logic, the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia, would be justifiable since the Saudi authorities did not like what he wrote.

It is telling that President Joe Biden refuses to condemn this blatant act of violence, which he would have done promptly had it been Russian agents committing an extrajudicial killing against a civilian in Ukraine because they didn’t like what they were writing about Vladimir Putin. This tells me that Joe Biden is not really interested in fighting for the “Rules Based International Order” that he keeps talking about, but is just interested in carrying out a personal vendetta against Putin, using the Ukrainians as cannon fodder.

Russia stands accused of committing numerous such executions and poisonings over the years, both when they were known as the Soviet Union and today. If we don’t take a stand and condemn it when “our” side does it, then how can we argue that we are in any way morally superior to the Russians?