The Center for the Enforcement of Human Rights International (CEHRI) and the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) have filed a case with the federal prosecutor of Austria to open an investigation into the crimes of sexual violence and murder committed by the Russian invaders in Ukraine.
Points of attention
- Organisations have already collected evidence of sexual violence by Russian soldiers against two Ukrainian women during the occupation of a village in the Kyiv region.
- Filing arrest warrants for the suspects would allow their extradition and prosecution.
- CEHRI concluded that Austria has jurisdiction to investigate such crimes, which is the first case in that country.
The Clooney Foundation will fight for justice for Ukrainian people
The organisations have already submitted detailed evidence against the perpetrators to the Austrian prosecutor.
They are currently representing two Ukrainian women who were raped by Russian soldiers during the occupation of a village in the Kyiv region at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
As The Docket legal director Anna Neistat points out, the Russian occupiers who committed sexual violence were convinced that the victims' silence would save them from responsibility.
In this case, their victims are determined to prove them wrong, she emphasised.
According to the Clooney Foundation, Ukrainian women "Olena" and "Olga" (names are changed - ed.) 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. A few weeks later, Ukrainian forces liberated the village. One of the women stayed in the village, and the other fled to Austria.
How the Clooney Foundation and CEHRI plan to prosecute Russian soldiers
It is important to understand that the case was filed against the direct perpetrators of the crimes and seven middle and high-ranking commanders.
The Austrian prosecutor has already received detailed and compelling evidence that The Docket managed to collect during field investigations in Ukraine.
In addition, a comprehensive analysis of the open sources used to gather information on individual criminals and command structures and other supporting evidence was conducted.
In October 2023, The Docket filed three cases on other patterns of crimes committed in Ukraine with the German federal prosecutor, requesting an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine. The Docket also shared the investigative dossiers with the International Criminal Court.
CEHRI concluded that it was Austria that had jurisdiction to investigate these crimes as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
CEHRI and CFJ call on the Austrian authorities to open a criminal investigation and issue arrest warrants for the suspects, enabling arrest, extradition, and prosecution.
It is important to understand that arrest warrants can be executed in countries outside of Austria through the Europol and Interpol systems.
“We are honored to represent the Ukrainian survivors in this groundbreaking case – the first of its kind in Austria,” said Tatiana Urdaneta, CEHRI’s founding member. “We now hope that the prosecutors will act without delay to move the case forward.”
