Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), Russia has been accused of trying to “break the resistance” of Ukrainians and occupy the country, according to a leading human rights lawyer.
The comments, by Oleksandra Matviichuk, come amid intensified attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war and the pressure to initiate peace negotiations.
Matviichuk is a leading Ukrainian human rights lawyer and co-recipient of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
She spoke about the situation on the ground in Ukraine and whether should Ukraine be negotiating with Vladimir Putin.
Matviichuk was recently in Brussels to address the International Conference on Accountability and Justice for Ukraine.
She was also the Guest of Honour at the RSF Press Freedom Prize 2023 and participated in the European Parliament’s High-Level Conference on Human Rights.
She told this site, “Since the full-fledged invasion of Ukraine began, we have joined our efforts with dozens of regional organizations and established a nationwide network of war crimes documenters.
“Our “Tribunal for Putin” initiative has recorded more than 59,000 war crimes. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Because Russia uses war crimes as a method of waging the war.
“Russia is deliberately inflicting pain on the civilian population to break the resistance of the people and occupy the country.
“Therefore, during my visit to Brussels, I also spoke about the need to reconsider the course of international aid for justice.
“You can conduct a million trainings, and you can pay for the work of thousands of international consultants, but if each Ukrainian investigator has to investigate 2,000 criminal cases at the same time, then all of this makes no sense. It is necessary to change the national architecture of justice and attract an international element in the form of qualified workers to give a chance for justice to all people affected by this war.”
She added, “This is not just a war between two states. This is the war between two systems – authoritarianism and democracy. Russia wants to convince the entire world that democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are fake values.
“Because they do not protect anyone in the war. Russia wants to convince that a state with a powerful military potential and nuclear weapons can break the world order, dictate its rules to the international community, and even forcibly change internationally recognized borders.
“And this is not about Ukraine laying down its arms.
“People in Ukraine want peace more than anyone else. But peace does not come when the country that was invaded stops fighting. That’s not peace, that’s occupation. And occupation is another form of war. Occupation is not about changing one state flag to another. Occupation means enforced disappearances, torture, deportations, forced adoptions of your children, denial of identity, filtration camps, and mass graves.”
