“…First I sat in the basement of the former SBU building. They call it ‘special isolator of the Ministry of State Security’, but it’s actually an ordinary torture chamber. The walls are soaked in blood, there are some bunk beds. They led us to the toilet twice a day, once in the morning, once in the evening. They beat us in their offices during interrogation…” This is how Artem Akhmerov and Vladislav Ovcharenko remember their time in detention, from which they were freed on December 27, 2017.
Each of their words, just like the memory of all war victims, is of great value for documentors of war crimes. But how do such explanations affect the victims themselves?
The overall dangers of the warzone just like particular war crimes that are committed against particular people, amounts to a threatening situation for the civilian population. This is felt especially harshly by victims of shelling, by torture victims or those who have been illegally detained. Victims with severe psychological trauma may experience panic attacks, suffer from nightmares or flashbacks, all of which are symptoms that can occur as part of a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Psychotherapists have developed methods that can relieve the symptoms of victims. Also non-traumatic conversations with people close to those who suffered can help. In any case, the overall context of the armed conflict demands decisive action from two angles: The government has to create the conditions for swift and qualified help to war victims, and the victims have to be assured that if the need occurs, they do have somewhere to turn to for help. It is also vital that every victim himself or herself has to decide whether or not he or she needs professional help. Helping those, who don’t want to be helped, is very difficult.
Returning to the witnesses; besides the potential risks for their mental health, every victim is a valuable source of information for the Secret Service, for the Prosecutor’s office, for the National Police or the Ministry of Defence. Not one of these government structures has pervasive access to the occupied territory, where the self-styled “LNR” and “DNR” continue to commit crimes against the civilian population. In this situation, people, who have witnessed war crimes, or who have been held in an illegal place of detention become the chief informants and fact-checkers for all information. The details of a crime committed, the recognition of individual perpetrators, the precise dates and places, the names of other victims, all this information can be obtained only from eyewitnesses. In fact, testimony is the main source of evidence for criminal proceedings in Ukraine as well as for international courts under the conditions of the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine. At the same time, each interrogation, each conversation, each memorization forces the victim again and again to mentally return to the traumatic event. This raises the risk of repeated victimization (which means here a condition that is not a direct consequence of the crime but is triggered by how organizations and people behave towards the victim).
The 2006 recommendations to member states by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on how to help victims of crimes points out that states should define measures to ensure that all state employees who come into contact with victims treat them with respect and that they recognize their condition and the suffering caused by the crime. The investigation of each crime is a responsible task that has to be carried out in collaboration with the victim. In each case, the minimization of the risk for the victim has to be given priority and their privacy must be respected. The Ukrainian state has to adopt a “code of conduct towards victims of the war.” This should include:
On the other hand each victim of the war in Eastern Ukraine has to decide for themselves how important their testimony will be in investigating the consequences of the armed conflict or in bringing a war criminal to justice. Just like the victim, the Ukrainian state too, is guided in its investigation by the motive of material and moral satisfaction. For both sides, therefore, the following questions cannot remain without an answer:
It is still important to fight for justice and rule of law. Every victim should understand that his or her suffering must be documented, but only so far as this documentation does not target their human rights.
On October 2 at 16:00 in Poltava Art Museum human rights defenders presented the publication "City, where the war had started" about...
On October 2 at 16:00 in Poltava Art Museum human rights defenders will present the publication "City, where the war had started" ab...
Interactive exhibition of testimonies "On the Rift" about the violation of rights of civilians during the war in Donbas was presente...
The Secretariat of the Coalition «Justice for Peace in Donbas»
04060, Kyiv, Ryzhska str., 73 G