Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine and the temporary occupation of Crimea by Russia have resulted in numerous gross human rights violations and war crimes, the victims of which are Ukrainian citizens, including those from the temporarily occupied territories. The Ukrainian judiciary and law enforcement agencies of Crimea and Sevastopol, which have resumed their work on Ukraine’s controlled territory, are documenting and investigating these crimes. This is extremely important for the protection of our citizens and for building trust in the state.
The qualitative development of work to ensure justice and the inevitability of punishment for the most severe crimes is on par with other tasks we face in developing the state policy on de-occupation and reintegration.
One of the government’s priority steps is to improve the legislative framework and change the strategy to consider all the nuances and peculiarities of restoring justice in the liberated territories. This requires effective cooperation between the legislature, the justice system, and law enforcement agencies.
Even before the full-scale invasion, the Mission started working on transitional justice. The restoration of justice is one of the guiding principles of the Strategy for the De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol, approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 117/2021 of March 24, 2021. The following transitional justice measures are being introduced, which include
- the right to truth
- compensation for victims
- bringing perpetrators to justice
- reforms for non-recurrence
Who will be punished?
Ukraine focuses on bringing to justice those responsible for international crimes and crimes against national security, particularly those who
- intentionally contributed to the occupation of the territory of Ukraine
- held senior positions in the occupation authorities
- betrayed their oath, including military personnel, law enforcement, and judicial employees
- led or assisted in operations to seize state bodies, etc.
It is important to emphasize that residents of the temporarily occupied territories will not be held accountable only for living in the occupation.
Revision of court decisions
Due to the illegality and injustice of the court decisions issued by the occupation authorities, almost all decisions over the past ten years will be reconsidered. This is especially true for cases where human rights were violated or the occupation administration was one of the parties.
The European Court of Human Rights confirmed, among other things, the illegality of the so-called “court” decisions on June 25, 2024. This was confirmed by the judgment in the case of Ukraine v. Russia (concerning Crimea), which ruled that the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms had been violated. The decision excluded the possibility of recognizing the courts in Crimea as “established by law” within the meaning of Article 6 of the Convention.
All Crimean political prisoners who are being held in detention due to falsified charges of the occupation “courts” will be released without review of their cases.
As a reminder, at least 218 Ukrainian citizens have been arrested and convicted in the occupied Crimea. They are held on the peninsula or in the territory of the Russian Federation. 133 of the political prisoners are Crimean Tatars.
State support
Citizens of Ukraine and their family members illegally deprived of their freedom by the occupiers for political reasons receive immediate medical, psychological, financial, and other assistance from the state. After the de-occupation, we will intensify this assistance and rehabilitation.
The main goal of all these measures is to establish justice for Ukrainian citizens.