Just half a year after Russia’s manifestly unlawful full-scale invasion of Ukraine, CEHRI commenced its work with Ukrainian survivors of torture to attain psychological support and accountability for the harm suffered at the hands of Russian soldiers. Drawing from the extensive experience on torture of its interdisciplinary team, CEHRI drafted a complaint on behalf of the survivors to be submitted to the Austrian Public Prosecutor. 

In addition, noting the manifest violation of the jus cogens prohibition of the use of force and the status of the crime of aggression and as an international crime for which both state responsibility and individual criminal responsibility are recognised, CEHRI is in the course of initiating proceedings against Russian perpetrators on all levels. This complaint will not only cover the full-scale aggression which took place on and after 24 February 2022 but also extends to events in 2014 and covers the role of Belarus in the 2022 escalation of the conflict. 

Through this, we hope to empower Ukraine and its citizens by highlighting the need to uphold a State’s territorial integrity and the right of its inhabitants to self-determination.

More generally, we believe in the symbolic potential of such action to signal to oppressive, colonial nations that such acts will not be carried out with impunity. 

Pursuing accountability for international crimes committed in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has the added impact of developing Austria’s approach to extraterritorial jurisdiction.  This includes the principle of universal jurisdiction, but also the protective principle which authorises investigations and proceedings even in the absence of the perpetrator in Austria.