Positive developments can now be observed on the way to convicting those responsible for war crimes. International judicial bodies are making decisions on cases that were filed by the Ukrainian government and individuals several years ago. At the same time, Ukraine should not rely solely on international bodies to bring Russian officials to justice, but should amend its own legislation.
This was stated by Roman Martynovskyi, a leading expert at the Regional Centre for Human Rights, a member of the Coalition "Ukraine. Five in the Morning".
"As of today, 6 arrest warrants have already been issued by the ICC against senior Russian officials - this is a positive indicator. And the decisions made by the UN Human Rights Committee and the ECHR show that our human rights organisations and the government were convincing, and these arguments were accepted almost in full," the expert commented.
He also noted that in the future, human rights processes could be significantly accelerated and simplified. Victims will be able to immediately apply to the ECHR or the UN Human Rights Committee, instead of going through a long and inefficient path through the Russian judicial system.
Roman Martynovskyi advised all those who suffered from the illegal actions of the occupiers before 16 September 2022 to apply to the ECHR and receive a court decision: "Of course, they will not be enforced in the near future, but in the future this may entitle the victim to be included in the register of victims and count on certain compensation."
With regard to accountability for crimes committed by the occupiers, including those of commanders and civilian superiors, Ukraine is currently facing the challenge that national legislation has not been brought into line with international law.
"When we talk about criminals who commit a crime on the direct order of a commander, this is a form of complicity. In this case, it is not a problem to bring the commander to justice. But in the absence of evidence of a direct order, when the crime has been committed and the practice is widespread, there is no clear position in national law. And the sooner we remove this obstacle, the sooner we will start the process of bringing all executives and managers to justice," the human rights activist said.
05.07.2024
