Tuesday, 20 December ‘22

UK Trains Ukrainian Judges

Experts from the UK have begun training Ukrainian judges in war crimes processes as part of a 2.5 million pound justice and accountability assistance.

“Ukraine is navigating a horrifying catalogue of war crimes, with 50,000 cases recorded so far - the UK is committed to helping them secure justice,” said UK attorney general Victoria Prentis in a statement, adding, “We are throwing the full force of our support – including some of the UK’s finest legal minds – to make sure that happens.”

More than 90 judges will take part in the sessions under the supervision of Sir Howard Morrison, a former judge at the International Criminal Court and at the International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

“It may be a long, slow process, but you cannot entirely rule out the Russians, senior Russians, in politics or in the military could one day come before an international tribunal,” Morrison said in an interview with Sky News.

Sexual Violence in the Kherson Region

The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office announced that 64 cases of conflict-related sexual violence had been recorded in the Kherson region, more than in other de-occupied regions of Ukraine.

A special mobile group including prosecutors, police officers, psychologists and rights experts, which has already visited the region twice, had documented offences including forced nudity, rape and electric shock torture of the genitals.

As December 13, 154 facts of sexual violence related to the conflict it had been established and six Russian servicemen had been notified of the suspicion against them. Two indictments were sent to court and one person convicted. The prosecutor general’s office said that at least one case of abuse of a child by a Russian soldier had also been brought to court.

Suspicion Issued for Russian Generals Over Kharkiv Invasion

The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said that six Russian generals were formally suspected of organising the invasion of the Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian prosecutors, together with police and security service officers, inspected the locations of Russian command posts and unit headquarters after the liberation of settlements in the Kharkiv region.

“Documents confirming the commission of an act of aggression against Ukraine by units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation were discovered and seized,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The generals were notified of the suspicion that they had given direct orders to occupy populated areas, which resulted in numerous civilian victims and widespread destruction. They are accused of violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine and waging an aggressive war as laid out in part 3 of Article 110 and part 2 of Article 437 of the criminal code of Ukraine.

Photos of the suspects here.

International Damages’ Register

Ukraine’s deputy justice minister Iryna Mudra told a Paris meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) how Ukraine envisaged a future compensation mechanism.

She said that such a mechanism would be based on a multilateral international agreement and provide for the establishment of a compensation commission dedicated to considering claims, a fund from which the compensation would be paid and an effective enforcement body.

An international registry of damages would serve to record evidence on losses, injuries and damages caused by Russia's wrongful acts to individuals as well as the state of Ukraine.