Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Esta publicación cientíca en formato digital es continuidad de la revista impresa
ISSN-Versión Impresa 0798-1406 / ISSN-Versión on line 2542-3185Depósito legal pp
197402ZU34
ppi 201502ZU4645
Vol.41 N° 78
Julio
Septiembre
2023
Recibido el 28/02/23 Aceptado el 14/04/23
ISSN 0798- 1406 ~ De pó si to le gal pp 198502ZU132
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas
La re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas, es una pu bli ca ción aus pi cia da por el Ins ti tu to
de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co “Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che” (IEPDP) de la Fa-
cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas de la Uni ver si dad del Zu lia.
En tre sus ob je ti vos fi gu ran: con tri buir con el pro gre so cien tí fi co de las Cien cias
Hu ma nas y So cia les, a tra vés de la di vul ga ción de los re sul ta dos lo gra dos por sus in ves-
ti ga do res; es ti mu lar la in ves ti ga ción en es tas áreas del sa ber; y pro pi ciar la pre sen ta-
ción, dis cu sión y con fron ta ción de las ideas y avan ces cien tí fi cos con com pro mi so so cial.
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas apa re ce dos ve ces al año y pu bli ca tra ba jos ori gi na les con
avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
co, los cua les son so me ti dos a la con si de ra ción de ár bi tros ca li fi ca dos.
ESTA PU BLI CA CIÓN APA RE CE RE SE ÑA DA, EN TRE OTROS ÍN DI CES, EN
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Eduviges Morales Villalobos
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Ma ría Eu ge nia Soto Hernández
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Carmen Pérez Baralt
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Joan López Urdaneta y Nil da Ma rín
Re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas. Av. Gua ji ra. Uni ver si dad del Zu lia. Nú cleo Hu ma nís ti co. Fa-
cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas. Ins ti tu to de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co
“Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che”. Ma ra cai bo, Ve ne zue la. E- mail: cues tio nes po li ti cas@gmail.
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Vol. 41, Nº 78 (2023), 143-165
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
War crimes and crimes against
humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication
and features of documentation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4178.10
Nina Rogatinska *
Oleksandr Halahan **
Oleh Protsiuk ***
Sergii Galagan ****
Natalia Fierieva *****
Abstract
This scientic article is devoted to the interpretation of war
crimes and crimes against humanity, peculiarities of regulation
of these illegal acts and organization of their investigation
in Ukraine. Using the dialectical method, it emphasizes the
necessity of using the resources of the International Criminal
Court ICC in Ukraine and establishing a Special International Tribunal
to hold personally responsible for the commission of crimes of aggression
the actors involved. The expediency of creating a special state institute for
interaction with the ICC with the appointment of national coordinators is
argued. The components of the concept of investigation of war crimes and
crimes against humanity are determined as a holistic, comprehensive and
interdisciplinary theoretical system for activities under special conditions.
In the conclusions of the case, the need to ensure clear management and
coordination of the international investigation team under the auspices
and control of the International Criminal Court and the Eurasian Agency
in order to collect, execute, systematize and preserve the factual evidence
base, in accordance with the rules of the international protocol, is pointed
out.
* Doctor of Law, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Criminal Law and Procedure of Western
Ukrainian National University, Ternopil, Ukraine. ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0617-
6114
** Candidate of legal sciences, Associate Professor, Professor at the Department of Criminal Procedure of
National Academy of Internal Aairs, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5105-
0022
*** Candidate of legal sciences, Associate Professor, Associate professor of department № 1 of the Institute
at the Department of State Security of Kyiv National University Taras Shevchenko, Kyiv, Ukraine.
ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2058-5793
**** Doctor of Law, Doctoral student of National Academy of Internal Aairs, Kyiv, Ukraine.
ORСID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4028-942X
***** Head of the Department of Organizational and Protocol Support of the Court events at the Supreme
Court, the Civil Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORСID ID: https://
orcid.org/0000-0002-9513-0435
144
Nina Rogatinska, Oleksandr Halahan, Oleh Protsiuk, Sergii Galagan y Natalia Fierieva
War crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication and features of
documentation
Keywords: international humanitarian law; war crimes; crimes against
humanity; organization of investigation; collection of
evidence.
Crímenes de guerra y crímenes contra la humanidad
en Ucrania: Calicación legal y características de la
documentación
Resumen
Este artículo cientíco está dedicado a la interpretación de los crímenes de
guerra y crímenes contra la humanidad, las peculiaridades de la regulación
de estos actos ilegales y la organización de su investigación en Ucrania.
Mediante el método dialéctico, se enfatiza en la necesidad de utilizar los
recursos de la Corte Penal Internacional CPI en Ucrania y establecer un
Tribunal Internacional Especial para responsabilizar personalmente por la
comisión de crímenes de agresión a los actores implicados. Se argumenta
la conveniencia de crear un instituto estatal especial para la interacción con
la CPI con el nombramiento de coordinadores nacionales. Se determinan
los componentes del concepto de investigación de crímenes de guerra y
crímenes de lesa humanidad como un sistema teórico holístico, amplio
e interdisciplinario para actividades en condiciones especiales. En las
conclusiones del caso, se señala la necesidad de garantizar una gestión
y coordinación claras del equipo internacional de investigación bajo
los auspicios y el control de la Corte Penal Internacional y el Organismo
Euroasiático a n de recopilar, ejecutar, sistematizar y preservar la
base de pruebas fácticas, de conformidad con las normas del protocolo
internacional.
Palabras clave: derecho internacional humanitario; crímenes de
guerra; crímenes de lesa humanidad; organización de la
investigación; recopilación de pruebas.
Introduction
The need for a criminal law bans on crimes against peace, the security of
mankind and international law and order in modern conditions is due not
so much to their prevalence as to the extremely high degree of their public
danger. Thus, Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine «On the Fundamentals of
National Security of Ukraine» determines that at the present stage the main
real and potential threats to the national security of Ukraine, stability in
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society, in the sphere of state security are criminal activities against peace
and security of mankind (On The Fundamentals Of Ukraine’s National
Security. Law Of Ukraine, 1993).
Also, with the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence and the choice
of a course aimed at ensuring the fundamental principles of protecting
human rights and freedoms that are well-established in the international
community, in 2001 the Criminal Code of Ukraine, having Chapter XIX
«Crimes against the established order of military service (War crimes)»
(Articles 401-434), for the rst time in the history of national criminal
legislation was supplemented by Chapter XX «Crimes against peace, the
security of mankind and international law and order» (Criminal Code Of
Ukraine, 2001).
Armed conict, in the overwhelming majority of cases, is due to the
existence of contradictions of an ethnic, national, religious nature, which
the parties cannot resolve peacefully, non-military means. The Russian
Federation (hereinafter – the RF) commits deliberate criminal acts in
Ukraine, which, in accordance with the Rome Statute, have signs of war
crimes and crimes against humanity - in particular, murder, torture,
kidnapping, hostage-taking, inhuman treatment, rape and other forms
of sexual violence, extrajudicial executions, deportation, destruction of
civilian infrastructure, misappropriation of property and other actions
against the civilian population, etc.
During the full-scale invasion of the RF in Ukraine (from 02/24/2022
to the present day), law enforcement ocers recorded more than 47
thousand such crimes committed by the aggressor party (Torture, rape
and murder, 2022), and this number in the conditions of war is constantly
growing. At the same time, the colossal sums of the Russian Federation’s
war expenditures only conrm the commitment and involvement of the top
military and political leadership in such actions (Table 1).
Таble No. 01. (Information from: Datsenko, 2022).
146
Nina Rogatinska, Oleksandr Halahan, Oleh Protsiuk, Sergii Galagan y Natalia Fierieva
War crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication and features of
documentation
War crimes and crimes against humanity, which are directly related to
international criminal law, are particularly dangerous for humanity and
undermine the international system of security and law and order. The
long-term eorts of the international community have yielded fruitful
results, which are reected in the formation of international legal norms
that establish the grounds and conditions for responsibility for crimes
against peace, security of mankind and international law and order.
With the signing of the Rome Statute of 1998, since July 1, 2002, the
international criminal justice body has been ocially operating on a
permanent basis, whose competence includes the prosecution of persons
responsible for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and
aggression (Bibik and Kulyk, 2014).
As you know, international organizations were created and continue
to be created by states to jointly solve global problems. The essence of
global problems is that states are not able to solve them independently,
on their own. Of course, the problem of armed conicts and violations of
humanitarian law that occur during armed conicts, especially in the light
of recent events in Ukraine, Syria and the Middle East as a whole, is the
most vivid example of the fact that these problems cannot be solved by the
forces of one, even the most powerful state.
At the 2005 World Summit, member states of the United Nations
Organization (hereinafter – the UN) recognized that genocide, crimes
against humanity, and war crimes are such dangerous crimes that the
world’s population needs collective international responsibility to protect
against these acts. In this regard, the international community, acting
through the UN, has undertaken to use diplomatic, humanitarian and
other peaceful means to protect the population from international and, in
particular, war crimes (Article 139 of the Final Document).
In addition, the states agreed to support UN eorts to create opportunities
for early warning of these acts. At this, the obligation of members of the
international community to stop mass violations of human rights cannot
be recognized as an innovation in international law and the practice of
international relations.
Thus, in the XXI century, the world community continues to emphasize
the universal nature of the problem of combating war crimes, and the UN
remains the main international organization designed to solve problems of
concern to the entire world community.
The resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
and the European Parliament mention the genocide in Ukraine. Even
a preliminary review of the existing factual base of crimes committed by
the Russian occupiers gives objective grounds to talk about all the signs of
actions dened precisely as genocide in accordance with the international
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Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide.
In particular, we are talking about: mass intentional killings of Ukrainian
civilians; injuries, disability, severe mental trauma, including due to
numerous cases of rape, torture, bullying committed by the Russian
occupiers; purposeful and deliberate destruction by the aggressor country
of the system of life support of Ukraine; forcible deportation of Ukrainian
citizens to Russia. Mass kidnapping of children (Pashkov, 2022).
Illegal actions committed in the conditions of armed conict, causing a
ban on the entire international community, should not go unpunished, and
their eective warning is intended to be ensured both by measures adopted
at the national level and by the intensication of international cooperation.
Disclosure and investigation of international procedures requires
international cooperation of state institutions in order to search for
international criminals. The need for such cooperation determines the
needs of practical activities of national law enforcement agencies to seize
evidence on the territory of other states, to ensure the implementation
of criminal procedural functions dened by law and the administration
of justice. It is regulated, on the one hand, by international legal norms,
and on the other – by the provisions of the national criminal and criminal
procedural legislation.
The adoption in Ukraine in 2012 of a new Criminal Procedure Code
(hereinafter – the CPC of Ukraine) settled a number of issues of international
cooperation in criminal proceedings, including dening its main forms:
international legal assistance in carrying out procedural actions (Chapter
43 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine); extradition of persons who
have committed a criminal oense (extradition) (Chapter 44 of the Criminal
Procedure Code of Ukraine); criminal proceedings in the order of adoption
(Chapter 45 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine).
However, in recent years, the nature, concept and goals of international
cooperation of state bodies have undergone signicant changes. In today’s
conditions, the presence of numerous military conicts in the world and,
above all, on the territory of Ukraine, encourages the search for reserves
in improving the eciency of law enforcement activities, the development
of new methods for investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity
in order to improve skills in the search for criminals, qualications,
organization and conduct of investigative (investigative) actions in the
investigation of crimes of this category.
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War crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication and features of
documentation
1. Methodology of the study
The methodological basis of the study was the methods and techniques
of scientic knowledge. Their application is due to a systematic approach,
which makes it possible to consider the problems of research in the unity
of their social content and legal form. The leading method of research is
dialectical, with the help of laws and categories of which the essence of
war crimes and crimes against humanity is determined, as well as the
peculiarities of international regulation of their investigation, taking into
account national regulatory procedures.
The use of the laws of formal logic and its methods such as induction
and deduction, analysis and synthesis, made it possible to determine the
structural and logical scheme of research, to identify the properties and
signs of the legal nature of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the
problems of their criminalization and investigation at the national level.
The method of system analysis, system-structural and formal-logical
methods are applied in order to clarify the conceptual foundations of the
organization of the investigation of war crimes, subject to the proper legal
procedure in accordance with the norms of international customary law
and the practice of its application; dogmatic – for the interpretation of legal
categories, deepening and clarifying the conceptual; functional – in order
to identify the levels of organization of the investigation; typological – when
clarifying the proper legal procedure for organizing an investigation and
collecting evidence of war crimes; methods of modeling and forecasting
– to form proposals for the improvement of certain provisions of
national legislation in accordance with the requirements of international
humanitarian law and the practice of its application in the investigation of
crimes of aggression committed under a special legal regime; sociological
and statistical methods – during the analysis and generalization of the
empirical basis of the study.
2. Analysis of recent research
Today, in the science of international humanitarian law, criminal and
criminal procedural law, a signicant number of works are presented,
which analyze the features of qualication, organization of investigation
and collection of evidence about the crimes of aggression, the processes of
formation and development of the system of international criminal justice
in this direction.
The presence of a signicant number of scientic research on this topic
is of great theoretical and practical importance, and the formulated ideas
are reected in the legislation and are positively perceived by international
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law enforcement practice. At the same time, some works do not take
into account the modern development of law enforcement investigative
practice in this area, which is happening very rapidly and necessitates the
reassessment of previous conclusions in the light of a new interpretation
of certain provisions of international treaties or the construction of new
concepts.
Most scientic concepts lack a systematic approach to organizing the
investigation of war crimes committed during a military conict.
It should be noted that according to ocial statistics, since the
introduction of martial law in Ukraine on 24.02.2022, investigators of the
National Police of Ukraine initiated 172,684 criminal proceedings, 49,851
initiated on the facts of committing crimes on the territory of Ukraine
by servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and their
accomplices (National Police of Ukraine, 2022) (table 2). The investigation
of such a large number of these crimes requires eciency, professionalism
and the involvement of a signicant human resource.
Table No. 02.
Source: prepared by the authors.
In connection with the above-mentioned circumstances, there is a need,
taking into account current trends in the development and interpretation
of the norms of international humanitarian and criminal procedural law,
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War crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication and features of
documentation
a new theoretical understanding of issues related to the organization
and establishment of interstate and interdepartmental interaction of
documenting and investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity.
These circumstances determined the choice of the topic of a scientic
article, covering a set of issues, the study of which has an indisputable
theoretical value.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. The legal nature of war crimes and crimes against humanity
and the problem of their criminalization
By their nature, war crimes are among the most serious and serious
crimes known to mankind. According to modern international law,
international crimes (crimes against humanity) are genocide, aggression,
war crimes, crimes against humanity.
The international community refers to war crimes as any of the
following acts: deliberately directing an attack against civilians in a war
zone; committing violent acts in order to spread terror among the civilian
population; deliberately carrying out an indiscriminate attack aecting
civilians or civilian objects, knowing that such an attack would result
in excessive deaths, injuries to civilians or damage to civilian objects;
deliberate attacks on unprotected areas or demilitarized zones; deliberately
transforming into an object of attack a person known to be hors de combat;
deliberate attacks on medical personnel, equipment and materials.
Deliberately carrying out an attack, knowing that such an attack would
lead to broad, long-term and serious environmental damage; the use of
weapons, shells and materials that cause excessive injury or unnecessary
suering; use of poison or poisoned weapons or suocating, poisonous or
other gases and all similar liquids, materials or devices; use of chemical or
bacteriological weapons; the use of bursting bullets or weapons, the main
action of which is injury; the use of indiscriminate traps or mines (which
can aect both combatants and civilians) in places where there is a high
probability of civilians being (Koval and Avramenko, 2019).
Determination of the grounds for the application (criminalization)
or refusal to apply (decriminalization) of criminal inuence should be
recognized as a constant problem of criminal law. It should be emphasized
that the perpetrators of most war crimes today, unfortunately, manage to
avoid criminal prosecution. One of the reasons is the imperfection of the
legislation and its non-compliance with international standards.
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Despite the lack of a legislative denition of war crimes, some of those
are provided for in Chapter XIX of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: violence
against the population in the area of hostilities (Article 433); mistreatment
of prisoners of war (Article 434); illegal use of symbols of the Red Cross,
Red Crescent, Red Crystal and their abuse (Article 435); looting (art. 432).
At the same time, looting in accordance with the Criminal Code of Ukraine
has a much narrower application compared to the one provided by the
Geneva Conventions and, accordingly, the Rome Statute. Thus, according
to Ukrainian law, looting is the theft on the battleeld of things that are
killed or wounded, whereas according to the Rome Statute, looting is the
seizure of any property without the consent of its owner for personal use.
The universal norm regarding war crimes is contained in Chapter XX of
the Criminal Code of Ukraine. So, in accordance with Art. 438 «Violation
of the laws and customs of war» is considered a crime of ill-treatment of
prisoners of war or civilians, expulsion of civilians for forced labor, looting
of national values in the occupied territory, use of means of warfare
prohibited by international law, other violations of the laws and customs of
war provided for by international treaties ratied by the Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine, as well as ordering the commission of such actions (Criminal Code
of Ukraine, 2021).
When applying this norm, it is necessary to similarly focus on the
practice of international criminal courts, doctrine, authoritative comments
on international humanitarian law and the provisions of international
treaties. At the same time, the list of acts that may be considered violations
of the laws and customs of war does not necessarily have to coincide with
the list from Article 8 of the Rome Statute, or the list of serious violations of
international humanitarian law under the Geneva Convention or the First
Additional Puncture.
It can be expanded, but not arbitrarily. In any case, the expansion of the
list of these acts should be supported in international practice. Otherwise,
Ukraine will almost certainly face cases against itself in the European Court
of Human Rights.
In accordance with modern international law and practice, as well as the
criminal legislation of foreign countries, crimes of aggression are considered
exclusively in the context of political subjectivity, that is, criminal liability,
including international liability. It is possible to attract only the highest
political and military leadership of the aggressor state, which by its powers
can actually plan, prepare or unleash (initiate) an aggressive war or order
aggressive hostilities.
Thus, bringing to criminal liability persons from among ordinary
servicemen of the Russian Federation according to the qualication of Art.
437 (planning, preparation, unleashing and waging an aggressive war) of
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War crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication and features of
documentation
the Criminal Code contradicts both the provisions of current international
legal acts and the practice of criminalizing aggression in the legislation on
criminal liability of EU countries (Khrypun, 2022).
It should be emphasized that currently the Criminal Code of Ukraine
does not have responsibility for crimes against humanity covered by Art. 7
of the Rome Statute and contain the following features of a large-scale or
systematic attack against the civilian population, the performer’s awareness
of the large-scale and systematicity, and be committed in the form of:
murders (civilians); destruction (mass destruction of civilians or occurred
within the framework of such destruction); the use of a vacuum bomb;
deportation or forced displacement of the population; Torture; persecution
(restriction of the freedom of one or more persons in terms of exercising
fundamental rights) (Rome Statute Of The International Criminal Court.
Charter Of The United Nations, 1998).
Currently, we have to state the imperfection of certain norms of the
Criminal Code of Ukraine, which sometimes creates obstacles in an
adequate response to hostilities in the temporarily occupied and adjacent
territories. Currently, there is an urgent need to revise Chapters XIX-XX
of the Code in order to include in their composition the norms that would
provide for criminal liability for all actions against the interests of the
people of Ukraine.
We propose to focus on the list of acts that can be qualied as a violation
of the laws and customs of war proposed in the draft law «On Amendments
to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Ensure the Harmonization of
Criminal Legislation with the Provisions of International Law» No. 9438
(On The Adoption As A Basis Of The Draft Law Of Ukraine On Amendments
To Certain Legislative Acts Of Ukraine To Ensure The Harmonization Of
Criminal Legislation With The Provisions Of International Law, 2019).
This list complies with international standards and Ukraine’s obligations
under international treaties to criminalize violations of international
humanitarian law.
The challenges faced by the national justice system include the
inconsistency of criminal legislation with the generally recognized
provisions of international criminal law enshrined in the Rome Statute
of the International Criminal Court (hereinafter – the ICC) (there is
no explanation of what war crimes are, the blank disposition of Article
438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the general subject of the crime of
aggression, the lack of responsibility for crimes against humanity, the
lack of an institution of team responsibility, etc.). This problem requires
a comprehensive solution. Some lawyers reasonably believe that the way
out of this situation is the adoption of the law on transitional justice (Bida,
2021).
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In addition, the problems with bringing perpetrators to justice are
created for Ukraine by the lack of a unied approach to the qualication of
war crimes. The analysis of the specied category of criminal proceedings
showed the absence of a single position in the qualication of these criminal
actions among the investigative bodies and the prosecutor’s oce, which
negatively aects the process of organizing the pre-trial investigation and
its results as a whole.
As a result of the ambiguous and diverse assessment of this category of
crimes, a dual nature was gradually laid in the mechanism of preliminary
and nal criminal-legal qualication of the circumstances of the crime and
the actions of suspects, when the same events were simultaneously assessed
as participation in the crimes of aggression, and as terrorist acts, and in
other individual cases – as a violation of the laws and customs of war.
3.2. Prospects for using the resources of the International
Criminal Court and establishing a Special International
Tribunal to bring to personal responsibility for the commission
of crimes of aggression
Under international law, the most active way to investigate and bring
the perpetrators to justice is the state in whose territory war crimes
are committed (Nazarchuk, 2020). In regulating the organization and
interaction of law enforcement and judicial bodies in the investigation
of crimes at the interstate level, bilateral and multilateral international
treaties play a signicant role (Smyrnov, 2003), which, rst of all, should
include the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters
of 1959; European Convention on the Transfer of Criminal Proceedings of
1972; convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family
and Criminal Matters of January 22, 1993 etc.
To date, in Ukraine, all data on crimes of aggression committed on its
territory must be promptly collected, appropriately documented, which will
further allow administering justice in order to restore justice for victims of
violence. That is, xing the events that have signs of war crimes and crimes
against humanity committed by the RF in Ukraine is necessary for: achieving
justice and bringing to inevitable responsibility the leadership of the
Russian Federation and all those responsible for these crimes; guaranteeing
eective justice to prevent the commission of new such crimes; informing
the international community in order to prevent disinformation and
silence the facts about the crimes committed; strengthening the country’s
legal position in investigations, litigation at the national and international
levels; assessment of the damage caused to the state and citizens as a result
of large-scale armed aggression (Participation of Ukrainian organizations
in documenting crimes committed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine,
2022).
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documentation
In the world there is a rather conditional division into «internal» and
«external» models of prosecution of war criminals. The main criterion
is whether the state wants to actively investigate cases of war crimes
on its territory, or whether the leading role belongs to external factors
(international institutions, foreign mechanisms, etc.).
Ukraine is still using hybrid tactics, on the one hand, directing eorts
to bring the perpetrators to justice as much as possible by means of the
national legal system, on the other hand, it relies on the ICC as a universal
jurisdiction over complex jurisdictional issues or immunities, or in case of
insucient resources.
International customary law provides an opportunity to exercise
universal jurisdiction over war crimes that are not serious violations,
regardless of the citizenship of their perpetrator and the place of their
commission. Universal jurisdiction may be provided for by the rule of
international customary or contractual law.
If a universal jurisdiction is established by a contract, it is usually
mandatory. Universal jurisdiction can be exercised either by adopting
internal legislative or in the form of an investigation into persons suspected
of committing oenses and transferring them to the court. The grounds for
exercising universal jurisdiction over war crimes are present simultaneously
in international treaty and customary law.
Usually, the parties to the conict make it clear that they will not
cooperate in any way and in every way interfere with the investigation.
As a result, active opposition to the organization of the investigation and
collection of evidence-based information about war crimes committed by
the opposing parties to the armed conict is formed by hiding traces of
war crimes (destruction of relevant documentation, evasion of its issuance
to investigative groups, etc.). This behavior is explained by a completely
understandable unwillingness to be convicted of committing illegal actions,
paying reparations in the future.
ICC Prosecutor F. Bensouda stated that:
The events in Ukraine show signs of war crimes and crimes against humanity
and require a more detailed investigation. Despite the available information about
national court proceedings, potential cases that may appear on the basis of an
investigation would be admissible in the ICC. This is explained either by the fact
that the authorized bodies in Ukraine and/or in the Russian Federation do not
take active actions against the relevant categories of persons and acts, or by the
fact that the national judicial system is not «accessible» in the territory under the
control of the opposite party, which makes it impossible to detain the accused,
or to obtain the necessary evidence and testimony, or to conduct proceedings by
representatives of the competent authorities (Prischepa, 2020, n/y).
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It should be emphasized that the ICC, as the highest court for criminal
prosecution of international crimes, faces objective diculties in obtaining
jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. In addition, neither Ukraine
nor Russia ratied the Rome Statute, although Ukraine recognized the
ICC’s jurisdiction to prosecute other international crimes. In addition,
within a universal jurisdiction, only a few countries can prosecute for this
fundamental international crime.
Despite all its shortcomings, the International Criminal Court is
currently the only international mechanism that gives a chance to bring
to personal responsibility the highest military leadership of the Russian
Federation. In view of this, the main attention of the Special International
Tribunal, the creation of which is planned, should be focused solely on
the act of aggression, so that the work of the ICC is complemented solely
to attract the military-political leaders of the RF, who planned, prepared,
initiated and carried out an act of aggression in Ukraine, and later - control
and manage its implementation.
It is possible that the tribunal will consider the actions of Belarus falling
under paragraph f of Art. 8 of the Rome Statute, as the state that allowed
its territory to be used to commit an act of aggression against Ukraine
(Ogrenchuk, 2022). The narrow and clear purpose of the tribunal will also
mean a reasonable budget, as it will not have to review the cases of hundreds
of mid-level ocials.
International organizations and a number of countries currently support
the creation of a tribunal, which can be created on the basis of a multilateral
treaty between states or on the basis of an agreement with international
organizations such as the UN, the EU or the Council of Europe. The key
thing is that the status of this judicial institution should be international
and cover as many states as possible. Also, the jurisdiction of the Special
Tribunal should cover the beginning of an armed conict, that is, from
2014, and should not have a nal date, as the armed conict continues.
3.3. Organizational and legal aspects of the investigation of war
crimes and crimes against humanity
It should be emphasized that in March 2022, the UN Human Rights
Council launched a corresponding investigation into Russian aggression
and created an independent commission, in April 2022 the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution «Consequences
of the Russian Federation’s continued aggression against Ukraine: the role
and reaction of the Council of Europe», in which it called on member states
and international judicial institutions to promptly investigate the crimes of
Russian invaders in Ukraine.
156
Nina Rogatinska, Oleksandr Halahan, Oleh Protsiuk, Sergii Galagan y Natalia Fierieva
War crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication and features of
documentation
On 19.05.2022, the European Parliament adopted a resolution
containing a number of important points: taking all necessary measures to
investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression
committed on the territory of Ukraine; creation of a special international
tribunal; expanding the mandate of Eurojust to ensure the analysis and
preservation of the collected evidence, etc. (Pashkov, 2022).
In Ukraine, the Oce of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine (hereinafter
– the OGP), as the legally established body responsible for the investigation
of war crimes on the territory of Ukraine, plays a key role in ensuring the
prosecution of those responsible for war crimes and crimes of cruelty.
However, the scale of these criminal actions is unprecedented and puts
forward huge demands to the entire law enforcement system and justice
authorities.
The main goal at this stage is to ensure accountability for war crimes in
Ukraine, to provide assistance, advice and resources necessary to prosecute
criminals. Currently, various expert groups and international missions
involved in the investigations carried out by Ukrainian law enforcement
agencies involved in the collection and execution of evidence of crimes.
In particular: the ICC Prosecutor’s Group (42 investigators, forensic
experts and support sta (The Prosecutor of the International Criminal
Court sent a group of 42 investigators and forensic experts to Ukraine to
investigate international crimes, 2022), joint investigation team (Ukraine-
Lithuania-Poland); a team of French criminologists; Council of Europe
Advisory Group; a group of experts from the international organization
Human Rights Watch; American «Conict Observatory», created at the
initiative of the State Department and so on. In addition, 12 countries have
launched their own criminal investigations into the events in Ukraine,
and more than 40 countries have supported the ICC investigation. The
Oce of the President of Ukraine also initiated the creation of a personal
register of Russian interventionists who committed war crimes on the
territory of Ukraine (Advisory group on investigation of war crimes and
crimes against humanity for Ukraine, 2022).
The support of the EU, the US and the UK-initiated Advisory Group
on War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, the Oce of the Prosecutor
General aims to streamline coordination and communication measures to
ensure the application of best practices, avoid duplication of eorts, and
support the eective use of nancial resources and qualied personnel to
respond to the needs of the OGP.
The main task of such a group, which included experienced prosecutors
on the investigation of war crimes, investigators and other specialists who
should provide the necessary expert potential, provide training, advisory
and operational support to the OGP. The mobile investigation teams also
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include international and Ukrainian specialists to increase the capabilities
of the war crimes unit, regional prosecutors to conduct investigative
(inquiry) actions and assist Ukrainian investigators in conducting
investigative actions at crime scenes (Advisory group on investigation of
war crimes and crimes against humanity for Ukraine, 2022).
Thus, it is on the agenda to ensure clear management and coordination
of the international investigation team (from prosecutors, ballistics,
pathologists to translators), under the auspices and control of the ICC and
the Eurojust agency in order to collect, execute, systematize and preserve
the factual basis of evidence according to the norms of the international
protocol.
The organization and methodology of the investigation, the collection
of evidence of war crimes committed by the parties to the armed conict
are directly inuenced by the following destructive factors: a rapid change
in the operational situation; frequent redeployment of military units and
units; death, wounding and capture of witnesses, victims, suspects; change
of situation as a result of bombing and shelling, occupation; mining of
the terrain, shelling of snipers, etc.; a large number of proceedings on
such facts; the diculty of bringing to criminal liability the parties to the
conict; a signicant period of time from the moment of the massacres
to the beginning of the study of mass grave sites, which prevents their
identication due to the decomposition of corpses.
Problems of forming an evidence base due to the inability to access
witnesses, scenes, etc.; selective provision of military information, i.e.
documents, objects, photographs from drones, decoded recordings of
interceptions of radio conversations, etc., politicization of the investigation
process and investigation on the border line between national sovereignty
and international responsibility, in the area between the legal and political
spheres; investigation of war crimes only against one of the parties to the
conict, etc.
Unwillingness of the parties to an armed conict to comply with the
legal requirements of the justice authorities and a number of international
legal provisions; problems of ensuring the testimony of high-ranking
leaders and diplomats; attempts to dramatize the «commission» of war
crimes by the enemy; counteraction to the investigation; armed resistance
during detention; receiving combat and mental injuries by persons
involved in the investigation process.
The unwillingness of the parties to the armed conict to prosecute
their citizens – war criminals, to whom the population often refers as
«heroes», and the lack of a binding eective legal mechanism for the
search, detention and transfer of war criminals is one of the destructive
factors in the investigation of war crimes.
158
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War crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication and features of
documentation
It should also be emphasized the need to establish constant cooperation,
regular exchange of experience with representatives of the international
community, prioritizing political considerations and short-term interests
of states, providing the international community with political assistance
in collecting and organizing the collection of evidence-based information
on war crimes, the arrest of criminals. It is also eective to widely involve
representatives of international organizations (Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, Human Rights Watch, etc.) and the media in
order to use the institute of privileged evidence by international criminal
justice authorities.
At the national level, members of the investigative task force directly
interact with each other, coordinate the main directions of pre-trial
investigation, conduct procedural actions, and exchange the information
received. Coordination of their activities on the territory of Ukraine
is carried out by the Prosecutor General’s Oce of Ukraine (Second
Additional Protocol To The European Convention On Mutual Legal
Assistance In Criminal Matters, 2001), as the initiator of the creation
of a joint investigation team. Also, in addition to representatives of law
enforcement agencies of the member states of the organization, which are
part of the joint investigation teams, within the EU there is a possibility of
involving employees of Europol and Eurojust (Shostko and Ovcharenko,
2008).
The specicity of the content of the methodology for investigating war
crimes committed during an armed conict is determined mainly by the
group (brigade) method of investigation, investigation on «hot tracks»
and special conditions for conducting investigative (investigative) actions
in an armed conict.
This applies to both traditional investigative (search) actions
(interrogation, search, inspection of the scene, etc.) and new techniques
for forensic science, which have become widespread in practice only in
areas of armed conict (for example, interrogation of prisoners of war,
research of mass grave sites, analysis of radio conversations, etc.).
The main evidence in the activities of international criminal justice
bodies is the testimony of witnesses, victims, suspects, accused and
documents with the widespread practice of their preliminary xation
using technical means obtained during interrogations, examinations,
searches, appointment and conduct of examinations.
In our opinion, it is necessary to develop new techniques for forensic
science, which are common in practice only in areas of armed conict
(intelligence analysis, involvement in the case of a large number of
photo-audio and video materials proving the commission of war crimes,
etc.). Investigative (investigative) actions should be aimed at identifying
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specic command personnel (pilots, artillerymen, snipers, etc.) who gave
and carried out orders for airstrikes, shelling and destruction of civilians,
settlements, other war crimes, and then, on the basis of regulatory
regulation of the activities of ocials of the state party to the conict – to
identify the perpetrators.
It is worth noting that there are already some successes in the
investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
Thus, since the active phase of military aggression on the territory of
Ukraine on 24.02.2022, as of October 2022, suspicion of aggression,
its planning, preparation and implementation of 624 top ocials of the
highest political and military leadership of the RF has been notied in
absentia (Kostin: 626 representatives of the leadership of the RF reported
suspicion of a crime of aggression, 2022).
The analysis of the ICC’s work makes it possible to identify the
following conceptual organizational measures that go beyond individual
criminal proceedings, the rejection of which destructively aects the
investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity: the denition
of an investigation strategy and the organization of investigation and
collection of evidence; determination of the structure of bodies and the
principles of organization of their work; the procedure for establishing
an interdepartmental investigative task force (hereinafter – the MCOG),
material, technical and logistics support for their activities; organization
of ensuring the right to qualied legal protection and the procedure
for attracting other participants in criminal proceedings (translators,
specialists, concepts, etc.); denition of the principles of information
and analytical work, organization of control, accounting, reporting;
organization of interaction and cooperation between states, international
and national criminal justice bodies; optimization of evidence collection,
adaptation of the use of human resources in «eld» conditions;
organization of expert research and activities of expert institutions, etc.
Determining the strategy of organizing the investigation and
collecting evidence-based information about war crimes and crimes
against humanity, it should be understood that representatives of the
military-political leadership of states, as a rule, themselves do not directly
participate in the commission of such crimes, do not personally give
orders to commit such actions, do not sign the relevant documents, etc.
Therefore, in our opinion, when organizing the collection of evidence-
based information on war crimes and crimes against humanity committed
by representatives of the military-political leadership of states, the main
eorts should be focused on collecting sucient evidence that gives
grounds for accusing those who bear the greatest responsibility and
occupy the highest political and military positions.
160
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War crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication and features of
documentation
To prove their guilt, it is necessary to establish a connection between
persons pursuing state policy with a set of crimes committed in dierent
areas of armed conict, to prove that they or under their direct leadership
developed and put into operation a strategic criminal plan, that is, to apply
the doctrine of «common goal» when several criminals act together to
achieve the goal.
In conditions of limited time, in the absence of the opportunity and
resources to organize a simultaneous investigation of a large number of
criminal proceedings on war crimes committed in dierent areas of the
armed conict, each IIOG should have the task of quickly and eciently
conducting investigative (investigative) actions and collecting the maximum
amount of material evidence.
At the same time, IIOG prosecutors should coordinate the investigation
of various criminal proceedings, ensure eective exchange of information,
promptly and competently report suspicion to the main organizers of
war crimes. Under such conditions, interaction, taking into account the
specics of war crimes, is one of the determining factors for the successful
investigation of this type of socially dangerous acts.
In the process of organizing the investigation of war crimes and crimes
against humanity and the collection of evidence-based information, various
forms of interaction between law enforcement agencies can be used. There
may be diculties associated with collecting evidence outside the territory
of the relevant state on the territory of the other party, in compliance with
the rights of participants in criminal proceedings.
In our opinion, in order to minimize the consequences of destructive
factors that aect the eectiveness of war crimes investigation, it is necessary
to create a special governmental institute for cooperation with the ICC with
the appointment of national coordinators. This requires amendments to
the CPC of Ukraine, providing for the possibility of creating an institution of
joint IIOG, that is, to form joint groups of employees of the ICC and national
criminal justice bodies on the basis of relevant international treaties to
organize the collection of evidence-based information on war crimes.
Summing up the unit, it should be noted that when investigating war
crimes and crimes against humanity, it is necessary to rationalize the
procedure for conducting investigative (investigative) actions by adapting
them to the conditions of armed conict, using the latest technologies for
xing evidence, expanding and strengthening the expert base, improving
the forms and methods of interaction with other law enforcement and
state bodies, improving the quality characteristics and reliability of
communications and transport, etc.
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Conclusions
The imperfection of certain provisions of the criminal legislation of
Ukraine was stated, which creates obstacles in an adequate response to
criminal actions that are interpreted by the international community as war
crimes and crimes against humanity crimes of hostilities in the temporarily
occupied and adjacent territories.
This actualizes the need to supplement the Criminal Code with relevant
provisions that would provide for criminal liability for all actions against
the interests of the people in the conditions of military aggression, meet
international standards and Ukraine’s obligations under international
treaties to criminalize violations of international humanitarian law.
Given the relative novelty for Ukraine of war crimes and crimes against
humanity, their specicity, signicant public resonance and an extremely
large number, it is necessary for law enforcement agencies and courts
to develop a common position in the criminal legal qualication of the
studied illegal acts in order to increase counteraction to their commission,
organization of pre-trial investigation and trial.
We see the prospects of documenting war crimes and crimes against
humanity, and further bringing to justice the perpetrators of them, rst of all,
the top political and military leadership of the aggressor state, in using the
resources of the International Criminal Court and the Special International
Tribunal tested by practice. In addition, it is expedient to create a special
state institute for interaction with the International Criminal Court with
the appointment of national coordinators and make appropriate changes to
national legislation.
The concept of investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity
is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary holistic theoretical system of
provisions on specic patterns in the eld of legal support, organization of
investigation and collection of evidence-based information on these crimes,
search, detention and transfer of ocials involved in their commission
within the framework of international cooperation.
This concept makes it possible to combine scientic provisions on the
activities of law enforcement agencies and criminal justice bodies under
special legal regimes into a single system, and contains scientically based
methodological recommendations on the organization of documentation
and investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In order to collect, execute, systematize and preserve the factual base
of evidence on war crimes and crimes against humanity according to the
norms of the international protocol, the relevant changes are required
by the provisions of the criminal procedural legislation through detailed
regulation in it of the powers of joint international investigative and
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War crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine: Legal qualication and features of
documentation
operational groups under the auspices and control of the International
Criminal Court and the Eurojust agency.
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Vol.41 Nº 78
