On November 13, the Prosecutor General’s Office hosted a thematic discussion “The status of the “Wagner Group” members under International Humanitarian Law and its significance for responsibility for crimes committed in Ukraine”, organized by the international Renaissance Foundation with the support of Ukrainian law enforcement officers.
In the framework of the discussion, which brought together the leadership of the supervisory body, representatives of legal, journalistic and analytical circles, the report prepared by the “Open Society Justice Initiative” on the “Wagner Group” was discussed and relevant analytical developments were presented regarding the exposure of the activities of “Wagners” in Ukraine and third countries, of which more than seventy were counted.
Opening the discussion, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin described the challenges facing Ukrainian law enforcement officers in terms of criminal prosecution of members of the “Wagner Group”. The issue of the qualification of the relevant acts was presented by the head of the specialized department of the Prosecutor General’s Office Yurii Belousov.
The specifics of the organization and activities of the “Wagner Group” were revealed in the speeches of Maria Kucherenko from the “Return Alive” fund and American researchers, Anna Halfauy from the “Open Society Justice Initiative” and Candice Rondo, director of the Center for the Study of Future Conflicts.
Our Association’s experts, Anna Prykhodko and Professor Borys Babin, took an active part in the discussion, to whom he presented the analysis of the ARC regarding the Crimean episodes of the “Wagner Group” activity; among other things, the recent analysis of scandals involving the ship repair plant “Persei” in occupied Sevastopol aroused the special interest of foreign participants.
ARC experts also drew the attention of representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office to the proposals of the “Future of Crimea” strategic forums regarding the improvement of criminal policy approaches of Ukraine within the framework of the reintegration of Crimea after its deoccupation, which, among other things, should take into account the specifics of the responsibility of the Crimean members of the “Wagner Group”.
