International legal experts assist Ukraine in sexual violence investigation – Reuters
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KHERSON, Ukraine (Reuters) – An international team of legal advisers has been working with local prosecutors in Ukraine’s recaptured city of Kherson in recent days as they began gathering evidence of alleged sexual crimes by Russian forces as part of a full-scale investigation.
The visit by a team from Global Rights Compliance, an international legal practice headquartered in The Hague, has not previously been reported.
Their efforts are part of a broader international effort to support overwhelmed Ukrainian authorities as they seek to hold Russians accountable for crimes they allegedly committed during the conflict, now nearly 10 months old.
Accusations surfaced soon after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of rape and other abuses across the country, according to accounts Reuters gathered and the U.N. investigative body.
Moscow, which says it is conducting a “special military operation” in Ukraine, has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians, and the Kremlin denies allegations of sexual violence by the Russian military in Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to questions for the Reuters article.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Dec. 9 that a UN Human Rights report about Russian attacks on civilians was based on “rumours and gossip”, and Moscow has accused Ukrainian forces of brutal reprisals against civilians who cooperated with Russian forces.
The scale of the Ukrainian prosecution’s task is daunting, with the number of alleged international crimes running into tens of thousands and as war in the east and south of the country makes already complex work more difficult and dangerous.
