Vienna prosecutor’s office to investigate Russian sexual crimes in Ukraine

The Austrian human rights organization CEHRI and the George and Amal Clooney Foundation For Justice appealed to the prosecutor's office with a request to start an investigation into crimes of sexual violence and murder committed by the Russian military in Ukraine.

This is reported on the CFJ website, Rubryka writes.

"The Center for the Enforcement of Human Rights International (CEHRI) and the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) filed a case with the Austrian federal prosecutor today requesting an investigation into crimes of sexual violence and murder committed in Ukraine by Russian forces. The organizations submitted detailed evidence against the perpetrators and are representing two women who were raped by Russian soldiers who occupied their village in the Kyiv area in the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022," the message reads.

It is noted that "Olena" and "Olha" (names have been changed) were taken out of their homes at night by drunken Russian soldiers accompanied by their commander.

The soldiers first came to Olena's home. When she asked whether the soldiers would kill her, the commander answered that she had nothing to fear because "the boys just want to have some fun." The soldiers then went to Olha's house. When her husband tried to prevent them from taking her away, the soldiers shot him dead on the spot. After being repeatedly raped and subjected to other forms of sexual abuse, both women managed to escape and return to their homes.

Later, the village was liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. One of the women stayed in the village, and the other fled to Austria.

The case involves the direct perpetrators of the crimes, as well as seven middle and senior commanders identified by CFJ's The Docket initiative as suspected of crimes against humanity. The case contains detailed evidence collected by The Docket during field investigations in Ukraine, as well as a comprehensive analysis of the open sources used to gather information about individual criminals and command structures, as well as other supporting evidence.

The Austrian Human Rights Organization (CEHRI) conducted a detailed legal analysis that found that "Austria has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute these crimes as war crimes and crimes against humanity in Austrian national courts, based on extraterritorial principles of jurisdiction."

"This includes the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows states to investigate and prosecute the most serious international crimes regardless of where they were committed or the nationality of the offender or victims. This principle is based on the understanding that such crimes concern the international community as a whole," the press release states.

Based on the compelling evidence presented against the specific perpetrators, CEHRI and CFJ called on the Austrian authorities to open a criminal investigation and issue arrest warrants for the suspects, allowing them to be arrested, extradited, and prosecuted.

Arrest warrants can be executed in countries outside of Austria through the Europol and Interpol systems.

The Vienna prosecutor's office confirmed to the Austrian news agency APA that the application had been submitted to them and that further steps would be taken.

As reported, as of June 18, 2024, 303 cases of war-related sexual violence were registered in Ukraine.

In addition, during the occupation of the Right Bank of the Kherson region, the Russian military imprisoned, tortured, and sexually assaulted representatives of the LGBTQ community. The reasons for the torture were precisely the orientation and gender identification of people.

We will remind that 500 citizens of Ukraine who suffered from sexual violence during the Russian invasion will receive 3 thousand euros each.