War crimes in Ukraine: thousands of cases, difficult investigation

Justice Minister Buschmann wants to help Ukraine deal with war crimes. But that’s difficult: there are currently over 42,000 procedures – and every week a number of new ones are added.

Bucha – the place stands like no other for committed atrocities against the civilian population. After the Russian troops withdrew in April, the crimes were immediately visible to the public. Shot civilians lined the streets and were found in cars attempting to flee. Men – tortured and shot – found with their hands tied behind their backs.

But these were not the only potential war crimes that Russian troops have committed and are still committing in Ukraine, explains Tetyana Peschonchyk of the human rights organization Zmina. “We’re dealing with disappearances and kidnappings,” she says. Especially when it comes to active members of the community: “Journalists, activists, representatives of administrative bodies such as mayors or village leaders, teachers who do not want to implement the Russian curriculum or activists who protested against the occupation and then disappeared”.

42,000 procedures are currently running

One of them is Ivan Fyodorov, the mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol. At the beginning of March he was arrested because he did not want to cooperate with the occupying forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Fyodorov is being tortured and is calling for his release. Fyodorov is released after five days. He is just one of many with a similar fate, he tells the AP news agency: “I was the first mayor to be kidnapped, but now there are more than 50. Hundreds of our citizens are kidnapped, detained, tortured and killed. It is a difficult situation.”

Kidnapping, rape, torture, murder or the targeted shelling of civilian infrastructure – the Russian troops commit a wide variety of crimes in Ukraine. There are currently 42,000 war crimes investigations. 100 to 200 new cases are added every week, says human rights activist Peschonchyk. And these figures seem to represent only a fraction of the crimes – because they only refer to the territory controlled by Ukrainian troops.

It’s not just the crowd that’s causing problems for investigators, Peschonchyk explains. “The investigation of war crimes is much more difficult than that of normal crimes,” she says. “Investigators need more knowledge, more training, more staff and more equipment to collect and process this data.”

Evidence must still be valid in 30 years

Germany is trying to help here. There is close cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities, said Justice Minister Buschmann during his visit to the Ukrainian capital. And I also help in a very practical way: Germany is supplying materials and tools for securing evidence. Because only if evidence is collected and secured in such a way that it will still stand up in court in 20 to 30 years can potential war criminals still be held accountable.

For that to succeed, however, Ukraine must also initiate reforms, says human rights activist Peschonchyk. “We have weak legislation in terms of qualifications. And the president, the parliament, are very reluctant to meet international requirements and bring the criminal justice system up to international standards.”

The prosecution of war crimes is important for the future, says Peschonchyk. Because the fact that Russian crimes in Crimea and Donbass went unpunished for years is the reason for the extent of violence during the current war of aggression.