Criminal Complaint Against Russian Military Filed In Germany

End of June 2023, two human rights organizations filed a criminal complaint with the German Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office on behalf of a Ukrainian survivor of sexual violence, and this under the principle of universal jurisdiction. The criminal complaint is directed against four members of the Russian military, including two high-ranking officials, and alleges that they are responsible for the arbitrary killing of the survivor’s husband and for committing acts of sexual violence against her. The filing is made in light of Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine and what followed in the form of atrocities that meet the legal definition of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Rape and sexual violence are among the alleged crimes, and indeed, their occurrence has been reported since the early days of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

In the case filed in Germany, by the Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group (ULAG) and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), the perpetrators are said to have attacked the survivor and her family a few weeks after the beginning of the full-scale invasion, when Russian troops were occupying their village in the Kyiv region. Reportedly, “After repeated intimidation and humiliation by members of these forces, two soldiers entered the family’s property, shot her husband dead and then raped her multiple times. The woman and her young son managed to flee and now live in Germany. Their house in Ukraine was destroyed after their escape, presumably by Russian troops.” None of the perpetrators or their superiors have been arrested but investigations by the Ukrainian authorities are underway. Also, a trial against one of the alleged perpetrators has begun in Ukraine in absentia.