russians have committed so many crimes already that no law enforcement system in the world can cope with them – human rights defender

After the start of the war, human rights organizations have already recorded over 30,000 crimes committed by russians against Ukrainians, whereas the law enforcement agencies have registered more than 62,000 respective cases.

These were the words of Yevhen Zakharov, the Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union for Human Rights, at the Honorary Lecture of the Kyiv Security Forum dedicated to the National Unity Day of Ukraine.

“The multitude of crimes committed is such that no single law enforcement system in the world can handle them. However, now it is necessary to do our utmost to record all these crimes, collect evidence, and gradually weave it all into the investigation process,” he said.

Mr. Zakharov also emphasized that all victims should file their applications to law enforcement agencies and be granted the official victim status in respective criminal proceedings.

“In future, a situation is quite possible when compensation are distributed among victims, stating the fact that a person is a victim,” he continued.

The human rights defender also expressed the standpoint that all crimes committed by russians in Ukraine should be recorded in one database.

Yevhen Zakharov said that the relevant database maintained by over 30 human rights organizations under the auspices of the “Tribunal for putin” initiative already contains data and information on more than 30,500 crimes committed by russians.

“Attaining justice, bringing the culprits to justice and punishing them depends primarily on us. The more proactive we are, the faster this objective is achieved,” he said.

“Justice has no statute of limitations, pretty much like war crimes, crimes against humanity and other international crimes having no statute of limitations either,” the human rights defender summarized.

The Kyiv Security Forum, founded by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s “Open Ukraine” Foundation, is the major platform in this country to discuss issues of war and peace, national and global security.