During a working visit to the United States, the delegation from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine discussed with representatives of competent U.S. authorities the issue of documenting and investigating war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
This was reported by the PGO press service, Ukrinform saw.
The Ukrainian delegation was headed by Yurii Belousov, chief of the department for combating crimes committed in armed conflict. The delegation included representatives from regional prosecutors’ offices and war experts with the Interagency Working Group.
At a meeting with the U.S. State Department officials, Ukrainian prosecutors praised the work of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) and the invaluable support for the PGO and the Interagency Working Group in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.
The members of the Ukrainian delegation briefed partners on their progress in the investigation of crimes against the environment and cultural heritage committed by Russia on the territory of Ukraine. They also reported on the achievements in bringing the culprits to justice.
Several meetings were held with the delegation from the Office of the Attorney General at the US Department of Justice, including with the War Crimes Accountability Team headed by Christian Levesque. The parties discussed achievements in investigations and further steps, and also agreed to work out a single mechanism for swift information exchange to optimize the process of sending motions for international legal assistance. Another focus was the issue of continued cooperation in PGO capacity building.
The Special Environmental Prosecutor’s Office team held meetings with officials from the Environmental Crimes Section of the DoJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, FBI’s International Human Rights Unit, Land Management and Forest Service, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and several non-governmental organizations. The delegates also visited Institute of Environmental Law.
“During the meetings, the Ukrainian delegation gained valuable knowledge of the work and interaction of the U.S. authorities in probing crimes against the environment,” the report reads.
The team investigating crimes against cultural heritage met with the representatives from the FBI, Department of Justice, Conflict Observatory, Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative, and other organizations. The parties discussed the issue of documenting war crimes and the illegal transfer of cultural valuables.
In addition, the delegation held a meeting with Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, to discuss progress in war crimes inquiries and U.S. support for prosecution efforts.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, referring to the Prosecutor General, law enforcement are running nearly 4,000 criminal cases into Russian war crimes against Ukrainian children.
Source: Ukraine’s prosecutors visit U.S. to discuss with counterparts investigation of Russian war crimes
