Croatian experts have been in Ukraine for months, helping local authorities in war crime investigations, Justice Minister Ivan Malenica said on an official visit to Kyiv on Monday.

Malenica was there to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Maliuska, and Prosecutor General, Andriy Kostin. According to a press release from the Croatian Justice Ministry, the three officials mainly discussed challenges related to war crime investigations, including evidence gathering and building a support system for victims and witnesses.

Malenica said that his visit was “an expression of solidarity” with the Ukrainian people and a “sign of Croatia’s commitment to help process war crimes perpetrated in Ukrainian territory.”

Croatian officials hope to assist Ukrainian authorities in ways that would leverage their vast experience from Croatia’s 1991-95 war of independence and the related investigations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“As a country which witnessed grave violations of international law and many war crimes on its own territory, we are in a position to understand very well the process that Ukraine is going through right now, and we wish to provide our assistance,” Malenica was quoted as saying.

“Our experts have been present in Ukraine for months, helping Ukrainian prosecutors. Processing crimes committed during a war of aggression is a complex and lengthy undertaking. That’s why we want to offer our experience and expertise to help Ukraine,” he added.

Ukrainian prosecutors say that more than 74,500 wartime atrocities – including murders, executions, attacks on civilian infrastructure, sexual violence and child abductions – have been reported since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Among the most well-known cases are the killings in Bucha, a town 25 kilometres west of Kyiv occupied and held by Russian forces in March 2022. After their retreat in April, the local Ukrainian government reported evidence of more than 400 civilians massacred during the occupation.

In the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, there were also many documented cases of Russian shelling of residential neighbourhoods.

“Both of our countries had to face numerous challenges, including thousands of victims, destroyed infrastructure, and damaged economy. You are familiar with crimes perpetrated at Bucha, Irpin, Kharkiv… Croatia’s experience in processing war crimes and post-war judiciary matters is exemplary,” Maliuska said.

Despite repeated denials by Russia, the International Criminal Court based in The Hague opened its own investigation last year and issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March.

Since collecting evidence is the first step toward a potential trial before bringing these cases to an international court, Ukraine uses mobile teams of investigators assisted by international legal and forensic experts to investigate sites of alleged war crimes.

On Monday, Maliuska said that the post-war transition toward peace would represent one of the largest challenges facing his country in the future.

“The prerequisite for a successful transition is for justice to be served. That’s why crimes cannot remain unpunished, and victims must not be forgotten,” Maliuska said.

(David Spaic-Kovacic | EURACTIV.hr)

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