We must think about how to act so that the evidence gathered about the Russian war crimes does not drown in history – Oleksandra Matviychuk

When documenting the crimes of the Russian military, human rights defenders must already think about how to ensure that the evidence collected serves as a basis for proper proceedings and punishing criminals. This was stated by the head of the Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) Oleksandra Matviychuk during a meeting of the human rights club “Documentation and Investigation of International Crimes in Ukraine: The Experience of Human Rights Defenders.”

She has noted that the human rights community is sending a message about the importance of fixating human rights violations – namely, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The head of the CCL noted that human rights defenders, first of all, need to decide: “Are we working for history or are we working to bring criminals to justice?”

She noted that national police investigators have opened more than 16,000 criminal proceedings against the Russian military and their accomplices. “We have to ask now what the consequences will be for these proceedings. We need to think now about how to act so that this evidence does not remain history,” Matviychuk emphasized.

Furthermore, the executive director of the Center for Civil Liberties, Oleksandra Romantsova, noted that thanks to the release of, for example, Kyiv region, it is now possible to document war crimes, go to the scene and verify the data.

“We go out for one episode and bring in a dozen other episodes because the fact that get to open sources is only about 1/10 of what actually happened, especially in places where there was direct contact with the occupiers.”

“We are also concerned about how the data collected will be received by international bodies,” she said. – “How to get the reaction of international organizations, international justice institutions, perhaps some new mechanisms that should respond to the current situation. Are we able to provide justice for the victims at the national level and at the international level?”

More about the results of the discussion on the website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group.