In a recent feature in The Sunday Times, journalist Tom Watling highlighted how GRC’s Mobile Justice Teams work alongside regional prosecutors across Ukraine to strengthen investigations and support accountability for international crimes, with the Sumy region providing a key example of this cooperation.
Sumy was the first region where GRC tested its evidence-mapping methodology, designed to help prosecutors bring together large volumes of evidence, identify patterns, connect crimes to specific Russian units and examine command structures. The approach was first applied in Trostianets, where prosecutors, police and security services had gathered more than 2,000 pieces of evidence.
Working closely with the Sumy Regional Prosecutor’s Office (RPO), GRC’s Mobile Justice Team North (MJT North) helped analyse this evidence and build a clearer picture of the Russian command structures that occupied parts of the region in 2022.
Vitalii Dovhal, Head of the War Crimes Department at the Sumy RPO, described the introduction of the methodology as “a turning point” in their work.
Dušan Jovanović, MJT North Lead, highlighted the wider significance of accountability efforts in Trostianets:
“Accountability here would resonate far beyond Trostianets. It would signal that the responsibility of commanders is not theoretical, and that crimes committed under occupation do not simply dissolve into the fog of war.”
The work in Sumy has also informed GRC’s cooperation with prosecutors elsewhere in Ukraine. By the end of 2024, the mapping methodology had been developed in eight other regions, while national prosecutors have adopted a similar approach.
Read the full article via the link: https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/unmasking-putins-war-crime-commanders-with-british-money-xzrmr586v
GRC’s Mobile Justice Teams are part of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group for Ukraine (ACA), a multilateral initiative established by the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States to support Ukrainian law enforcement and prosecutors in investigating and prosecuting international crimes stemming from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.