European of the week
Iryna Venediktova, the Ukrainian investigator who wants to bring Vladimir Putin to justice
Audio 03:29
Iryna Venediktova, Ukraine's Attorney General, pictured in March 2022. © AP/Tom Jennings
By: Clea Broadhurst Follow |
Daniel Vallot Follow
3 mins
The war continues in Ukraine, the fighting is very far from over, but another battle is already taking shape: that of the prosecution which will be brought against Russia for the war crimes perpetrated during the conflict.
At the head of this judicial offensive, there is a woman: Iryna Venediktova, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
This 43-year-old lawyer says she is determined to obtain justice and reparation for the victims of war.
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We are on April 12, in Boutcha, in the suburbs of kyiv.
Iryna Venediktova addresses the journalists
who have come to see on the spot the crimes attributed to the Russian forces.
“
Here all you see around are war crimes… Here they killed, tortured and committed sex crimes.
In the Kyiv region there is a huge number of war crimes, and we can call all of these crimes against humanity.
»
Bob-cut black hair, frank and determined gaze, Iryna Venediktova was Volodymyr Zelensky's legal adviser when he was running for the presidency.
She became an MP in 2019 and was appointed Prosecutor General of Ukraine in March 2020.
But his fate changed two years later when Russia declared war on Ukraine.
From the first days of the conflict, Iryna Venediktova became totally involved in tracking down war crimes and became the spearhead of this legal battle against Russia.
“
I
think she's methodical, she's a real jurist
,” explains Ukrainian journalist Tetyana Orgakova.
“
She has maximum power in her position to mobilize the investigators and the police in this process of collecting evidence
.
It is our face and our point of reference in all these files which concern the Russian army.
»
International Penal Court
To date, more than 8,000 investigations have been opened by the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, which has identified several hundred suspects.
Valuable testimonies have been collected, proofs collected… A job that needs to be done as quickly as possible.
“
The more time passes, the more the evidence disappears, this is the case, for example, of the marks of torture or injuries
,” says Marie Struthers, of the NGO Amnesty International.
"
It's the same with testimonials, because memory changes over time, so it's
important to capture the stories of the victims as quickly as possible.
It is good to go very quickly, but this evidence must correspond to international standards so that it can be accepted by international jurisdictions such as the International Criminal Court.
»
Because the ambition of Ukraine and Iryna Venediktova is to be able to judge these crimes
before the International Criminal Court
.
A goal that will be very difficult to achieve, Russia not being part of the Rome Statute, which is the foundation of the ICC.
“
As a result, we cannot
physically bring Russian officers or Russian government officials to justice
,” explains Marie Struthers.
“
But we are not completely hopeless because we thought that Slobodan Milosevic in the former Yugoslavia could never be brought to justice… But finally the political circumstances changed and he could be tried.
»
This Yugoslav precedent could inspire the Ukrainian authorities.
Because Iryna Venediktova does not hide it: her ultimate goal is to be able to bring Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to justice.
"
He is the one who started this war and who continues it,
" she told reporters.
It was his soldiers who killed children, women and old people.
The real culprit for these atrocities is, of course, the President of the Russian Federation.
»
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Ukraine
Russia
Vladimir Poutine
International justice