Russia

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has heard arguments from Aishath Shaan Shakir for the Maldives, on the subject of Israel's occupation of Palestine.

5 March 2024 by Janet H. Anderson

Is the ICJ the new “nuclear weapon” of small states? The Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) is now subject to thousands of memes and TikTok videos of its proceedings. A whole new generation have found out about this court via its involvement in the ongoing wars in Pale [...]

The story of how a Ukrainian drone helped a woman escape a war crime - Photo: Valeriya Bohomaz walks along a country road (aerial photo taken from the drone guiding her).

26 February 2024 by Vladyslava Kobko

The Ukrainian drone that said “follow me” Klim Kerzhayev, a Russian soldier, was accused of opening fire on a civilian car in Northeastern Ukraine, back in June 2022. The woman inside the car escaped thanks to the ingenuity of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Her husband was l [...]

War in Ukraine and justice - Photo: Ukrainian tanks stuck in the mud near the front line.

Interview

23 February 2024 by Franck Petit

"Stalemate in the Ukraine war translates into a justice stalemate" Two years ago, on February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, plunging the country into the deadliest war in Europe since 1945 and turning global geopolitics on its head. At the start of this conflict, and then again a year ago, Ju [...]

Prosecutor interrogates witnesses at the hearing held by the Kominternivskiy District Court of Kharkiv (Ukraine).

15 February 2024 by Tetiana Fedorkova

An "ordinary man", a grain storage and the Russian occupiers The man with grey hair, escorted into the courtroom in handcuffs, is alleged to have risen up as self-proclaimed manager of the Balakliya Grain Storage Company during the Russian occupation of that city in the Kharkiv region, east [...]

Russian trial in Donetsk: 33 Ukrainian prisoners of war sentenced.

8 February 2024 by Maria Koroleva

More than 200 Ukrainians tried in the occupied territories More than 200 Ukrainian servicemen have been sentenced in Russian trials since the start of the "special operation" on February 24, 2022, head of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin said in January. Justice Inf [...]

Trial in Ukraine of Denys Kulikovskyi for acts of torture committed in the illegal

19 January 2024 by Vladyslava Kobko

In pre-2022 occupied Donetsk, a prison’s hell Denys Kulikovskyi was the warden of the prison "Izolyatsiya" in occupied Donetsk between 2014 and 2018, prior to Russia’s full invasion. Early January he was found guilty of torturing prisoners of war and civilians. The trial was [...]

Klaus Hoffman (a German senior prosecutor of the Advisory Group for the Investigation of the Most Serious International Crimes in Ukraine) explains:

Interview

4 December 2023 by Olga Zhuravel

Klaus Hoffmann: “The problem of collaborators is not only legal, but also political” Klaus Hoffmann is a German senior prosecutor of the Advisory Group for the Investigation of the Most Serious International Crimes, a joint project of the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom that supports Ukra [...]

Ukrainian soldiers surrender to the Russian army in Mariupol (Ukraine) in April 2022.

24 November 2023 by Maria Koroleva

In Donetsk, over 100 Ukrainian soldiers sentenced in four months Since August, the Supreme Court of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, in Russia-occupied Eastern Ukraine, has handed down harsh sentences on at least 118 Ukrainian soldiers and military personnel, as Justice Info established [...]

Aleksandr Krasnoyartsev: a Russian pilot captured in Ukraine, exchanged with Russia and then tried in Ukraine in absentia (in the absence of the accused) for war crimes.

7 November 2023 by Iryna Salii

One year after being exchanged, a Russian pilot sentenced in Chernihiv The images of the pilot shot down in the early days of Russia's all-out attack on Ukraine made the headlines. But despite his relative celebrity and his confession to bombing Chernihiv, the man was exchanged before he could be tri [...]

Russian prisoners of war exchanged for Ukrainian POWs - Photo: russian soldiers holding flags.

31 October 2023 by Maria Koroleva

Russian soldiers exchanged with Ukraine: what happens after Justice Info has endeavored to follow the cases of at least two servicemen, convicted and sentenced in Ukraine for war crimes, who have been exchanged and returned to Russia. Although they have been convicted and have admitted the [...]

Trial of Russian military officers in Ukraine - Buildings of the Ivankiv District Court seen from the outside.

27 October 2023 by Olena Zhezhera

Trials of Russian military officers continue in Ivankiv In Ukraine, trials of Russian military officers are still ongoing, often discreetly and mostly in absentia. For example, two soldiers were at the end of September sentenced by a local court in the town of Ivankiv, north of the cap [...]

Angelina Dovbnya was tried and jailed for life for high treason in Ukraine. Photo: She takes a selfie in a lift.

24 October 2023 by Anastasia Zubova

"I did not pledge allegiance to this country" Angelina Dovbnya., a 21-year old Ukrainian woman, was sentenced to life for high treason by her country’s courts on October 13. Here is the out of the ordinary story of a young woman from Southern Ukraine who used to love travelin [...]

26 September 2023 by Maria Koroleva

A window into the trial of the Ukrainian “Aidar” battalion in Russia Eighteen members of the Ukrainian “Aidar” battalion are on trial before the Russian military court of Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia. Like the 22 alleged members of the “Azov” battalion, they face charges of “participating in a te [...]

25 September 2023 by Maria Koroleva

A day of defence for the “Azov” in Rostov-on-Don military court The military court in Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia, continues to hold hearings in the largest war-related trial, opened in June and involving 22 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Last week, Justice Info attended a hearing where defenc [...]

Ukraine vs Russia hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - The two countries argued over alleged violations of the Genocide Convention, with the support for Ukraine of 32 allied countries.

22 September 2023 by Molly Quell

Ukraine sees historic support at UN’s top court This week in The Hague, for the first time a Russian representative addressed the UN Court of Justice in the case filed by Ukraine last year, two days into Russia’s full scale invasion. The two countries argued over alleged violat [...]

Russian soldiers on trial in Ukraine for war crimes committed in Bucha - Bucha memorial dedicated to the victims.

15 September 2023 by Olena Zhezhera

Bucha: nine Russian soldiers sentenced and more trials to come At the end of August, the Irpin City Court found nine Russian military officers guilty of war crimes committed in Bucha, Kyiv region, in March 2022. This trial held in absentia is the first following investigations in Ukraine on t [...]

Opinion

28 August 2023 by Alexandre Prezanti

Prigozhin is dead, will Wagner’s crimes remain unpunished? Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, the two leaders of the Russian private military group known as Wagner, are dead after their aircraft crashed near Moscow on August 23. Despite the numerous crimes allegedly committed by Wagner m [...]

Trials of Ukrainian fighters in Russia - A bus leaves Lefortovo prison loaded with Ukrainian prisoners of war in preparation for an exchange.

27 July 2023 by Maria Koroleva

One year on, how Russia is starting to try Ukrainians Justice Info has calculated that at least 50 Ukrainians and foreigners have been or are being tried in Russia, Donetsk and Luhansk. War-related cases have started to abound more than a year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Uk [...]

Trial of alleged members of the Azov Battalion in Russia, at Rostov-on-Don.

24 July 2023 by Maria Koroleva

Ukraine: in Russia, alleged members of the “Azov” Battalion plead not guilty Most of the 22 prisoners of war – including 9 cooks – that Moscow considers members of the Ukrainian Azov battalion, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, July 19 during a trial in Rostov-on-Don (southern Russia). In this first, large [...]