Of the 55,000 Ukrainians who came to Lithuania, about 100 said they had information about war crimes committed by the Russian military.
This was stated in a comment to Babel by Lithuanian Prosecutor General Nida Grunskene, who was in The Hague on Tuesday.
"They saw houses and cars being destroyed, people being killed. They gave us photos and videos," Grunskene said.
She added that about 200 Ukrainians are currently being interviewed, and 300 people have said they do not have any information that would be useful for criminal war crimes proceedings.
According to her, an investigative team of 20 prosecutors and 20 investigators is working with Ukrainians. Lithuania will send all materials to Ukraine so that the Ukrainian side can use them in the investigation and transfer them to local and international courts. There will be no litigation on these materials in Lithuania.
Grunskene added that Lithuanian director [Mantas Kvedaravičius] had died in Ukraine. We are questioning people and collecting materials about his death in the same proceedings. We will also pass these materials to Ukraine because there is a crime scene there,” Gruskene added.
- In a comment to Babel, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova stated that ex-ombudsman Liudmyla Denisova did not pass on materials about rapes, which she reported on social networks. Instead, the commissioner sent letters.
- According to her, all registered crimes of sexual violence committed during the war are considered military and have no statute of limitations. Venediktova states that law enforcement officers are able to prove the facts of rape committed by the Russian military.
- In total, she said, law enforcement is investigating 15,000 war crimes cases, but without the help of other countries. Ukraine currently lacks support.