War and justice
In late October 2024, President Zelenskyy signed the second law implementing the Rome Statute. As a result, a new Article, “Crimes against Humanity,” was finally added to the Criminal Code of Ukraine. At the same time, the rules imposing criminal responsibility cannot apply retrospectively, which means that the crimes against humanity committed during the last 10 years of the war cannot be prosecuted by the Ukrainian law enforcement bodies.
7 November 2024
Three more sentences have been published in the Register of Court Decisions. They were imposed on Russian soldiers for crimes committed during the occupation and military operations. Two Russian soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting civilians who were trying to evacuate. One officer received 11 years in prison for ordering to capture the Borodianka Psychoneurological Nursing Home and use 500 residents as a human shield. A Russian soldier was sentenced to 12 years in prison for robbing a house.
16 October 2024
Nikolay Kartashev, a 22-year-old Russian serviceman from Rostov Oblast, is charged with killing a civilian during the occupation of Bucha in 2022. He is accused of violating the laws and customs of war. This is one of the few war crime cases that are tried not in absentia, that is, Kartashev is in the dock.
15 October 2024
In Ukraine, Dubinskyi was not convicted for directly downing the plane but for waging aggressive war and participating in the ‘DNR’ terrorist organization. Experts emphasize that this is a misclassification. You can find out why this is important and how this verdict differs from that of The District Court of The Hague in the MIHR analysis.
10 September 2024
Yuliia Shuliak is a Ukrainian lawyer who represents Russian military personnel accused of war crimes in court. In an interview with MIHR, the lawyer talks about her experience working on war crimes cases, the challenges of the trial in absentia, the impact of an international educational project on her perception of her work, and the public condemnation.
19 July 2024
The MIHR asked Maksym Tymochko, an officer of the International Law Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, why Russia ignores the immunity of a combatant, how the case against Nazi lawyers in Germany will help Ukraine, and why the enemy changed its strategy in its trials of the Azov fighters.
24 June 2024
The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced four Ukrainians accused of attempting to assassinate the so-called head of the ‘DNR,’ Oleksandr Zakharchenko, and the murder of the commander of a pro-Russian separatist battalion, Arsen Pavlov, known by his call sign ‘Motorola.’
19 June 2024
On May 2, 2024, the Parliamentary Legal Committee reviewed and endorsed draft law No. 7033-д for parliamentary consideration. This draft law limits access to information and decisions within the register of court decisions, which hold substantial public interest and are crucial for public oversight of law enforcement activities. The proposed changes undermine the principles of a democratic society and contradict Ukraine’s commitments to European integration.
16 May 2024
On 11 July 1995, over eight thousand Bosnian Muslims — men and boys — were captured and killed by the forces and police of Bosnian Serbs near the town of Srebrenica. The planned and organized massacre of people on religious and ethnic grounds is still considered the largest in Europe since World War II.
30 April 2024
On March 20, the MIHR presented an analytical study on victims' legal status, experience, and motivation in war crimes cases. This is the first such study in Ukraine. The research consists of a theoretical part about the experience of other countries in working with victims of war crimes, an analysis of national legislation, and a practical part where the team summarizes the experience of victims whose cases are already in courts or under active investigation.
20 March 2024