MOSCOW, July 5 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) – Russia's children's rights commissioner Anna Kuznetsova has called upon the European Network of Ombudsmen for Children (ENOC) to save the life of Charlie Gard, a terminally ill 10-month-old boy expected to have his life-support turned off on a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the ombudsman’s official website reads on Wednesday.

Kuznetsova said that the ECHR ruling is hard to accept from moral and ethical perspectives. She asked ENOC to provide support for Charlie’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, noting that it is a matter of several rights simultaneously in this case: right to life, freedom, security, respect of both private and family lives.

Charlie is suffering from mitochondrial depletion syndrome, a rare and complex disease. The boy has trouble with basic life functions with his life itself being maintained by a ventilator in a British hospital. The boy’s parents received an experimental treatment offer from a hospital in the United States and are seeking support for Charlie’s transfer.

However, the High Court in London ruled that the boy should not be transferred to the United States and that his life support should be shut down as he will be exposed to even more pain and suffering during the experimental treatment. This decision was backed by the ECHR. Charlie’s situation resulted in a worldwide debate over his fate.