LONDON — Academics in Poland are collecting testimonies from Ukrainian refugees. The French sent in forensic experts and mobile DNA labs. And humanitarian groups are interviewing witnesses and victims about laws-of-war violations carried out by Russian soldiers.
Since the horrific scenes in cities like Bucha were discovered last month after Russian troops were forced to retreat from the Kyiv region, experts from around the world have been pitching in to help collect evidence and document potential war crimes in the hopes of holding Russia accountable.
But with so many different groups involved, some experienced human rights investigators and prosecutors say that coordination across the various organizations could be one of the biggest challenges facing Ukrainian officials.
“This really is sort of an unwieldy beast,” said Clint Williamson, a former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues who is now leading a joint EU-U.S. investigation in Ukraine. “You just have so many people trying to do things, and it is not a particularly well coordinated effort. And so, you know, there’s always the danger you have people working at cross purposes.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called Russian troops “murders,” “torturers” and “rapists,” and has vowed to investigate and prosecute all allegations of crimes committed by Russian forces.
It’s an enormous amount of work.
Iryna Venediktova, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, has said that her office has already opened more than 8,000 criminal investigations related to the war and identified more than 600 suspects.
The stakes are high. Experts worry that investigations could be less efficient and that some evidence could be mishandled or not make its way to investigative teams with the International Criminal Court and the Prosecutor General’s Office in Ukraine, both of which have jurisdiction to prosecute alleged crimes committed in Ukraine.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the ICC has opened an investigation into potential war crimes, along with Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office. The United Nations has also launched an inquiry into potential violations of human rights.
Some experts also worry that with so many people working on similar tasks, victims could be interviewed by more than one organization, increasing the risk of retraumatizing people who have survived harrowing experiences. Any discrepancies in their statements could also be used to discredit their case, should it make it to court.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
