The Clooney Foundation for Justice has appealed to the German prosecutorʼs office to investigate three alleged war crimes committed by the Russians in the war against Ukraine.
The fund submitted a statement to the German prosecutorʼs office, because it has the principle of universal jurisdiction — it can investigate crimes committed outside the country and regardless of the citizenship of suspects and victims.
In cases that the Foundation asks to investigate, the families of the dead and injured either live in Germany or are willing to come to testify.
The suspects in the case are high- and middle-ranking Russian commanders. The documents submitted by the Foundation include evidence gathered during field research, satellite imagery data and open source data analysis.
The fund submitted detailed files on the offenders and represents the interests of 16 victims and the families of the victims. One of the cases was filed jointly with the Ukrainian human rights organization "Truth Hounds".
Case number 1
Russian occupiers shelled the village of Serhiivka (Odesa region) with Kh-22 missiles, killing 22 people and injuring 40 more. The collected dossier says that all of them were civilians, and the use of low-precision, high-power Kh-22 missiles may be a prohibited method of warfare. The responsibility probably rests with the highest command of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation.
Case number 2
Detention, torture and murder of four men in Kharkiv region in March 2022. The victims are the families of the three killed, and the suspects are four commanders of units of the so-called "LPR" and the Russian army, which controlled the surrounding territory.
Case number 3
Murders, torture, sexual violence and robbery in Kyiv region in March 2022. At least 28 murders, five cases of rape, and the torture of eight people were included in the case file. The victims in the case are the family of one of the murdered and a man who was detained and tortured. Five Russian commanders are suspected.
In Germany, the interests of the victims and their families will be represented by the German lawyer Natalie von Wistinghausen and "The Docket" lawyers.
If Germany finds the evidence of crimes against specific individuals to be convincing, it will be able to open a criminal investigation and issue arrest warrants for the suspects. After that, their arrest, extradition and prosecution will be possible. Arrest warrants will be valid outside Germany through the Europol and Interpol systems. The International Criminal Court will also be able to issue arrest warrants for the main suspects.