Ukraine: War Crimes Investigations

In November 2013, civil unrest erupted in Ukraine, which toppled the Yanukovych government and led to the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation and all-out war in Eastern Ukraine. Global Diligence Partner, Alexandre Prezanti, has led multiple investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by separatist, Ukrainian and Russian forces during the unrest and ensuing armed conflict in Ukraine.  

Working with Ukrainian, Russian and international civil society, Alexandre has trained and mentored teams of independent investigators to collect evidence of international crimes and serious violations of human rights to an international judicial standard. Since 2014, in an effort to preserve evidence and pursue those responsible for criminal conduct, hundreds of witness and victim statements, reels of video and photographic evidence, satellite imagery, internet scrapes, ballistics, impact crater and medical expertise, documents and other forms of evidence have been gathered, organised and analysed. This evidence has been relied on to seek justice for victims in international and domestic courts, non-judicial mechanisms, sanctions and advocacy. 

Based on the product of these investigations, Alexandre has authored and submitted several legal briefs to the International Criminal Court on behalf of victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Ukraine situation, in relation to:

• Killings, torture and other forms of ill treatment during the Euromaidan protests

• Killings, torture, illegal detention and persecution in Eastern Ukraine

• Attacks on the civilian population and civilian infrastructure in Eastern Ukraine

• Eforced disappearances, killings, illegal detention, torture and other forms of inhuman treatment and persecution in Crimea

• Rape and other forms of sexual violence in Eastern Ukraine