The study "International Crimes in Ukraine" was presented

The study was conducted for the period from 27 February 2014 to 1 May 2023 with the aim to investigate the key problems of Ukraine in the investigation of international crimes and in judicial practice. The study was presented by experts of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.

As a result, the experts developed recommendations for public authorities to improve the effectiveness of Ukraine's law enforcement and judicial systems.

For this purpose, they researched international standards and foreign experience, reviewed relevant national legislation, analysed materials of criminal proceedings on war crimes and responses to requests for public information, and conducted an anonymous survey with 147 representatives of the National Police of Ukraine, 108 representatives of prosecution authorities, 20 lawyers, and 207 victims of war crimes.

Most of the 255 representatives of pre-trial investigation bodies interviewed noted the existence of difficulties that hinder the effective investigation of international crimes.

These include the large scale of international crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine, legislative obstacles, lack of necessary resources and knowledge of the specifics of investigating such crimes.

According to the results of familiarisation with the materials of the 21st criminal proceedings related to war crimes committed after 24 February 2022, in 50% of cases there is no investigation at all - the case files contain only a statement of the crime and evidence provided by the injured party. However, in the majority of cases, the DROs were prompt in registering proceedings.

In terms of problems, victims' representatives point to the failure to prioritise or negligent conduct of necessary investigative actions; loss of evidence, chaotic, inconsistent and haphazard storage of materials; unjustified and repeated changes of jurisdiction; and inexperience of investigators.

There are problems in communicating with the injured party and passivity in conducting investigative activities.

Having reviewed the texts of sentences in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions for 9 years and 2 months, the UHHRC specialists have drawn up an indicative figure of sentences handed down in Ukraine for international crimes.

In total, the national courts of Ukraine handed down an estimated 585 sentences, of which the most sentences under Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - 514 sentences.

During the period under review, Ukrainian courts handed down 31 sentences with legal qualifications under article 438 of the Criminal Code (violation of the laws and customs of war).

In most of them, the data of the participants in the proceedings are anonymised, the verdicts are all guilty, and most of the texts of the verdicts contain references to various norms of international law.

Of the sentences under study, only 4 were handed down by the courts in the course of a full trial with the participation of the accused and with the examination of evidence of their guilt.

According to the above-mentioned 31 sentences:

• 39 persons were convicted, of whom 9 were Ukrainian nationals and 30 Russian nationals
• 38 of the convicted persons were males and one was a female
• 27 sentences have entered into legal force, and 4 are under appeal;
• the courts imposed sentences of deprivation of liberty ranging from 8 to 15 years.

In particular, the courts imposed the capital punishment of life imprisonment twice, but in one case the sentence was reduced to 15 years' imprisonment on appeal, and the other case is still under appeal.

First of all, the state should introduce a clear policy on the national system of prosecution of international crimes and define the list of responsible bodies and guarantees of their quality work.

The experts recommend introducing effective coordination of all pre-trial investigation bodies and rapid exchange of information between the bodies, simplifying bureaucratic procedures and approving an algorithm for the investigation of international crimes with a detailed description of the adoption of urgent investigative actions.

The experts also note the need to ratify the Rome Statute.