Olga Kuryshko, Head of the Legal Support Department of the Mission, took part in the discussion “Restoration of Ukraine in the de-occupied territories: what are the first steps to be taken” organized within the framework of the XX Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.
The liberation of the territories, especially those occupied for more than 9 years, raises many questions: how to reintegrate the residents of these regions, who should be considered collaborators and how to bring them to justice, what to do with millions of documents issued during the occupation, how to reboot the law enforcement system, education, medical and social spheres, etc.
These questions are numerous. But it is also important to understand the basic standards and principles by which the state will be restored in the de-occupied territories. This was the focus of the discussion, which was also attended by Daryna Kovalenko, an expert of the coalition “Ukraine. Five in the Morning” coalition, Daria Svyrydova, an analyst at the ZMINA Human Rights Center, Onysia Synyuk, and Oleksandr Kliuzhev, an expert on electoral law reform at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Ukraine.
Ms. Kuryshko drew the participants’ attention to the fact that under the current Ukrainian legislation on liability for collaboration, all residents of the occupied Crimea, one way or another, forced or voluntary, cooperated with the occupation administrations. That is why it is necessary to adapt our legislation so that it takes into account the context of the prolonged occupation, and people are not punished for simply living on the territory of the Crimean peninsula.
She noted that only a few Crimean bodies are currently working in exile – the Autonomy Prosecutor’s Office, the Mission, regional offices of the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police – so it is necessary to form a personnel reserve in advance to work on the de-occupied territory of the Crimean peninsula. This is a matter of ensuring the number of law enforcement officers, judges, public servants, etc.
Olha Kuryshko emphasized that during the occupation, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol monitored the situation, investigated and initiated criminal cases against collaborators under other articles, such as treason.
“There are three aspects to bringing to justice. The first is that the current legislation should have a clearer framework of responsibility related to the severity of the consequences for collaboration. The second is the issue of amnesty and lustration. And another aspect is the capacity of our judicial and law enforcement systems and the ability to collect evidence. Because in 9 years, a lot of evidence that would indicate the need to bring a person to justice may have already been lost, so our law enforcement officers must determine how they can collect such evidence and propose changes to the criminal procedure legislation. This should be done before the de-occupation, especially in relation to those collaborators who are not public,” Ms. Kuryshko noted.