talk to the lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk (Boiarka, Ukraine, 39 years old) These days this is an almost impossible task, or at best it can take several days to accomplish. Even if it’s someone’s phone number. to power cuts Ukrainethe usual frenzied work and displacements of the activist, increased media attention around the organization he now heads, Civil Liberties Center2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner (with Russian Monument and Belarusian political activist) Ales Bialiatski). An award highlighting the extremely hard work Matviichuk has done over the past 8 years: war crimes processed in your country. “It is impossible to get used to war,” this human rights expert says in a remote interview with EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA from the Prensa Ibérica group, just hours before the ceremony where she will finally receive the award. this Saturday
What job do you do?
The Center for Civil Liberties has documented war crimes since the conflict began in 2014. Since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion (last February), we have been working with a dozen other humanitarian organizations on initiative ‘A’. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s court.
About what?
Investigators documented the deliberate destruction of residential buildings, schools and churches, deliberate attacks on hospitals and medical personnel, forced deportations of the population, murders, sexual violence and torture of civilians. (This year), we documented 26,000 war crimes incidents in just nine months.
Do they also work in occupied territories? Russia? And if so, how?
For eight years we have collected information on crimes in the occupied Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Our tools include the analysis and verification of open sources, as well as the collection of documents and testimonies from people who have lived or been there. This year, we continued our work on this issue.
What will they do with this information next?
We collect this information so that sooner or later all Russians responsible for these crimes, as well as Putin and other political and military leaders, are brought to justice.
But how can these cases be considered internationally? Do you think taking them to The Hague is an option?
The efforts of the International Criminal Court are crucial, but will be limited to a few specific cases. On the other hand, the (Ukrainian) judicial system is overloaded due to a large number of cases. Therefore, the problem of how to give a chance to the justice owed to hundreds of thousands of victims is very serious.
What solution would you suggest?
I believe that an international court should be established for accountability to exist. Because if we say that every person’s life is important, we need to back up these words with concrete actions.
In 1998, at the request of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested thanks to the application of the principle of universal jurisdiction. Is this a way?
Yes, universal jurisdiction is an important tool in a complex justice strategy. That’s why we called on countries to use their laws and open criminal proceedings. However, this does not mean that the work of the (Ukrainian) Prosecutor General’s Office on hundreds of thousands of cases currently under investigation will be interrupted. So yes, it is an important tool, but it is not the only tool.
Are they also working on war crimes charges against Ukrainian soldiers? How should these facts be investigated?
We fight to build a country where we defend our right to life and where the rights of all people are protected, the government is held accountable, the courts are independent and the police are at the service of the people. It is critical that we adhere to these values and therefore these allegations of violations should be investigated. There is no point in defeating Russia and becoming Russia ourselves.
On a personal level, what has impressed you the most so far?
We work with so much human suffering that for a long time I forbade myself to ask any questions. There are many scary stories. Probably the most difficult have been the cases of sexual violence against children by the Russian Army.
Could this Nobel Prize change your job?
During these eight years, we worked with people who lived through hell. I personally interviewed more than 100 people held captive. They told me how they had been beaten, raped, amputated, or tortured by electrocution. We send dozens of reports to the UN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the EU. No one paid due attention to the voices of human rights defenders. But there can be no peace in our region without justice. We must break this circle of impunity.
So what can the Nobel Peace Prize do for peace?
We won this award in wartime. This is a huge responsibility. But it is also a unique opportunity to remind the world that peace, progress and human rights are interconnected. And a State that systematically violates human rights does not just pose a threat to its citizens. The example of Russia convincingly illustrates this.