Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann and his Ukrainian colleague, Deniys Maljuska, have signed a work program on cooperation in the judicial sector for the next two years. The FDP politician had to shorten a meeting with Mayor Vitali Klitschko in front of a destroyed house in Kyiv.
When sirens warned of air raids in the Ukrainian capital on Friday, he and his delegation sought shelter in the basement of the German embassy.
Buschmann arrived in Kyiv on the night train from Poland on Friday morning. It was his first visit to Ukraine since Russia’s war of aggression began on February 24. Between his appointments with government officials, Buschmann was shown war damage in the capital.
Kiev’s mayor said Russian President Vladimir Putin was having civilians and infrastructure bombed because he was unsuccessful at the front. “Every third apartment in Kyiv is without electricity.” Klitschko added that Putin wanted to create “panic” by attacking thermal power plants and the water supply. But the opposite is the case: “People are angry.”
“We stand by Ukraine today and we will continue to do so in the future,” said Buschmann. It was a mistake not to react more consistently to the Russian aggression in 2014. Germany wants to help Ukraine “to meet the rule of law standards as part of the admission process to the European Union.” Justice Minister Maljuska said he really appreciated that the German government officials “are not afraid to come here,” even after the attacks in recent weeks. One focus of the talks between the two ministers was the international prosecution of war crimes.
A visit to the darkened Cabinet of Ministers in the evening, where sandbags were piled up in the corridors, made a great impression on Buschmann and his delegation. There he had a conversation with Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanischyna, who informed him about the difficulties in investigating cases of sexualised violence in the areas formerly occupied by the Russians.
Enlightenment not only important for Ukraine
From Buschmann’s point of view, the investigations into Russian war crimes in the past few months since the attack on the neighboring country in February are not only of great importance for Ukraine. During a visit to the United Nations in October, Buschmann had already emphasized: “Freedom and security in the world only have a future if the international community puts Russia in its place.” The fight in Ukraine “is also our fight, that’s why it’s so important that Ukraine wins,” emphasized the guest from Berlin.
The German judiciary has experience in prosecuting war crimes committed abroad. In January, the Koblenz Higher Regional Court sentenced the former head of interrogation at a Syrian secret service prison to life imprisonment. He is said to have been responsible for the torture of at least 4,000 people and the deaths of at least 27 prisoners. The German police have already taken hundreds of testimonies from Ukrainian refugees about war crimes committed by Russian attackers.
Special tribunal suggested
The Ukrainian government and the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties are pushing for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian crimes committed in Ukraine. The government in Kyiv believes that such a tribunal should deal with the crime of aggression under international law. In addition, she is campaigning internationally for support for two other projects: the creation of a damage register and the demand from Russia for individual compensation for war damage suffered.
The Executive Director of the Center for Civil Liberties Sasha Romantsova, meeting with Bushman on the historic Independence Square, said Ukrainians believe in victory in this war “because we know that we can trust each other”. The center was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with the Memorial organization, which has since been dissolved in Russia, and the imprisoned Belarusian human rights lawyer Ales Byaljazki.
The Ukrainian Attorney General Andriy Kostin received the German minister with warm words. He said that with its arms deliveries, Germany had contributed “to making our airspace safer, step by step”. His official residence is surrounded by sandbags and hand-knotted camouflage netting. Germany also wants to support Ukraine in implementing the reforms necessary for its envisaged EU accession. Germany is supposed to help with expertise, for example, in the fight against corruption.
