Polish prosecutors help document Russian war crimes in Ukraine
Polish prosecutors and police investigators have visited Ukraine to help with collecting evidence of war crimes committed by Russia’s invading forces, officials have said.
Photo:Polish Police Force
The trip took place last month and focused on Ukraine’s northern regions of Sumy and Chernihiv, Polish state news agency PAP reported on Wednesday.
Poland is part of an international Joint Investigative Team (JIT) set up to document Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
During their visit, Polish prosecutors and police investigators used 3D laser scanners to study the destruction of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and residential buildings, officials said.
Karol Borchólski from Poland’s National Public Prosecutor’s Office told reporters that the facilities had been destroyed by Russia’s aerial bombardment, artillery shelling, rocket strikes and attacks by kamikaze drones, resulting in deaths of civilians, including children.
The Polish team, comprising two prosecutors and 10 police officers, worked in the border regions of Sumy and Chernihiv, sometimes close to the frontline, according to officials.
„At times they had to head for the bomb shelter as air-raid sirens sounded,” Borchólski said.
The Polish investigators used high-precision 3D laser scanners to collect evidence of the destruction inflicted by Russia, a method “fully satisfactory from the point of view of court proceedings,” officials said.
It was their second evidence-gathering visit to Ukraine; the first took place in June and July last year, the PAP news agency reported.
Established in March 2022 by Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, the Joint Investigative Team into Russian war crimes in Ukraine now also includes Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia and Romania, as well as the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Netherlands, reporters were told.
In March this year, the team signed a cooperation agreement with the US Department of Justice, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP
