Ukraine probing almost 26,000 suspected war crimes cases – prosecutor

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine is investigating nearly 26,000 suspected warfare crime circumstances dedicated since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion and has charged 135 individuals, its chief warfare crimes prosecutor advised Reuters.

Of these charged, round 15 are in Ukrainian custody and the remaining 120 stay at giant, Yuriy Bilousov, head of the warfare crimes division of the Prosecutor Basic’s workplace ,mentioned in an interview within the capital Kyiv.

13 circumstances have been submitted to courts and 7 verdicts have been issued, he mentioned.

In Could, a 21-year-old captured Russian soldier turned the primary individual to be convicted in a warfare crimes trial in Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. He was sentenced to life in jail for killing an unarmed civilian.

“Typically we have been requested why we prosecute such…low-ranked officers. It is simply because they’re bodily right here… If generals had been right here bodily and we had been in a position to seize (them), we’d positively prosecute generals,” Bilousov mentioned.

(Reporting by Sergiy Karazy; writing by Tom Balmforth; enhancing by Mark Heinrich)