How Clooney Foundation for Justice helps Ukraine prosecute Russian war criminals

The Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) submitted three cases to the German Federal Prosecutor's Office with a request to open an investigation into crimes committed in Ukraine. 

The organization sent detailed files on the offenders, representing the interests of 16 victims and the families of the victims. One of the cases was filed jointly with CFJ's permanent partner, the Ukrainian human rights organization Truth Hounds.

Rubryka reports how the foundation collects evidence of crimes and why it chose the German jurisdiction for submission.

What is the problem?

Since the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, a team of international lawyers and investigators working as part of CFJ's The Docket program have been gathering evidence and preparing cases detailing violations committed by the Russian military.

The Docket collects evidence of international crimes, prosecutes those who commit war crimes and mass atrocities, and represents victims in their pursuit of justice. So far, The Docket has prepared and sent three submissions designed to support the prosecution of violations committed in Ukraine as war crimes and crimes against humanity in Germany under the principle of universal jurisdiction. 

Germany has strong national legislation criminalizing such acts and has been a leader in prosecuting the most serious international crimes in recent decades. Submissions were also forwarded to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to support the Court's efforts to hold Russia's senior leadership accountable for crimes committed in Ukraine:

• The first case concerns the indiscriminate rocket attack on a resort in the Odesa region, which killed 22 civilians and seriously injured another 40 in the summer of 2022. The Docket represents the interests of 11 families of victims.
• The second case focuses on the Russian ground forces commanders, who illegally detained, tortured, and executed four men during the occupation of the Kharkiv region from March to September 2022. The Docket represents the families of three of the four victims. This complaint was filed jointly with Truth Hounds, a leading Ukrainian human rights organization with which The Docket has been cooperating since the beginning of its work in Ukraine. A detailed investigation of the open source data in this case was conducted by the Justice and Accountability Unit of Bellingcat and the Global Legal Action Network.
• The third case identifies Russian unit commanders involved in a series of crimes, including executions, torture, sexual violence, looting, and other crimes during the occupation of the Kyiv region in March 2022. The Docket represents a torture victim and the family of a man killed by the Russian military during the occupation.

What is the solution?

"The international determination to prosecute crimes committed in Ukraine has been unprecedented since the start of Russia's full-fledged invasion of Ukraine," said Anna Neistat, legal director of The Docket. "Now is the time to see that determination translated into real action. We expect that German prosecutors will become leaders in this direction."

All three dossiers are filed against senior and mid-level commanders identified by The Docket as most likely to be involved in the crimes. Each submission contains a detailed evidence base gathered by the group during numerous field investigations in Ukraine, as well as extensive open-source research used to gather information on individual suspects and command structures, and other evidence such as video and photographic materials, as well as satellite snapshots. All dossiers contain a detailed analysis of the relevant international law and national legislation.

"Our team spent a year and a half interviewing witnesses, conducting field missions, analyzing documents, satellite imagery, determining the best legal approach, and preparing the victims and families of the victims for the process," Neistat said. "Now I am sure that the cases are very strong and that they will give the German courts a real chance to establish justice for the victims."

"While Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are doing their best to address the unprecedented scale of war crimes committed in the country, they are overburdened and have limited ability to prosecute the commanders and organizers of crimes under Ukrainian law," said Maryna Slobodianiuk, who heads the investigative division of Truth Hounds. "We believe that by opening this proceeding, Germany can significantly contribute to efforts to ensure justice for all Ukrainian victims."

How does it work?

The dossiers, submitted by The Docket to German prosecutors, are based on a thorough collection and analysis of evidence conducted per international standards.

The Docket investigators made trips to the places where the violations were committed to collect evidence in each case. They conducted basic interviews with victims, eyewitnesses, representatives of local authorities, and law enforcement officers. They also inspected crime scenes, including places of detention, places where murders were committed, or bodies found, buildings looted and burned, and destruction caused by rocket fire. The group extensively documented each location via photo and video.

On the ground, The Docket also received numerous documents and photographs of documents (taken by eyewitnesses) left behind by Russian troops during the retreat. These documents contain information about the units that operated in this area and the names, signatures, callsigns, and telephone numbers of the unit commanders. Such information helped identify Russian units and their commanders.

The Docket provided the prosecutor's office with lists of witnesses and experts who agreed to participate in the proceedings.

The fieldwork was supplemented by open-source intelligence (OSINT) research conducted by The Docket's experts in the field. The collection of information from open sources included analyzing Russian- and Ukrainian-language mass media and social media, including communication networks used by Russian military personnel; discovering origins of Russian documentation; analyzing satellite images; reviewing and studying photographic and video materials available online, as well as other OSINT techniques and study of digital evidence.

If the German authorities find the evidence against specific individuals convincing, they can open a criminal investigation and issue arrest warrants for the suspects. This will enable their arrest, extradition, and prosecution. Arrest warrants can be executed in countries outside of Germany through the Europol and Interpol systems. The ICC can also issue arrest warrants for key suspects.

In Germany, the interests of the victims and their families will be represented by the well-known German lawyer Natalie von Wistinghausen and The Docket lawyers. Once the investigation begins, The Docket will continue to provide additional evidence to the German prosecutor's office, coordinate efforts with the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, and provide all necessary support to victims involved in the process.

"We represent victims of torture, as well as families of those executed or killed by indiscriminate shelling," Neistat said. "These Ukrainian civilians have suffered violence that is hard to imagine. However, now they are no longer victims — they have chosen to fight for justice, and we will support them every step of the way."