From February 9 to 12, 2024, a training on the prosecution and trial of war crimes in Ukraine was held in Nuremberg (Germany), which was attended by the Head of the Secretariat of the Commission Olena Ponomarenko.
The event was organized by the National School of Judges of Ukraine and the International Nuremberg Principles Academy which promotes the development of international criminal law and education in this area, and supports the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes.
The Director of the Academy, Professor Dr. Christoph Safferling, welcomed the participants of the event and introduced them to the history of the Nuremberg trials, the fundamental principles of international humanitarian and criminal law, and the classification of war crimes and persons.
Among other things, Ukrainian delegates had the opportunity to listen to lectures on the challenges of investigating and prosecuting war crimes, as well as to learn about practical cases of war crimes from Kiran Mohandas Menon, a lawyer and researcher, senior officer of the Academy.
The experts also dedicated a separate topic to the prosecution of war crimes in Ukraine: a judge of the European Court of Human Rights, scholar Mykola Hnatovsky, spoke about the role of judges in the trial of war crimes, and a professor of law at the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University Olena Kharytonova, spoke about the legal basis for the trial of war crimes.
The participants had the opportunity to visit the Munich Higher Regional Court, the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice and the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.
The training was also attended by the Deputy Head of Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court, judge Nataliya Antonyuk, judge of Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court Mykola Kovtunovych, Ukrainian judges of various instances and representatives of the National School of Judges of Ukraine.
In addition to the above-mentioned experts, the International Academy of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy was represented by the Senior Prosecutor of the Advisory Group for the Investigation on the Most Serious International Crimes Klaus Hoffmann, Senior Officer for Training and Capacity Building of the Academy Darleen Seda, Senior Officer for International Criminal Law of the Academy Dr. Gurgen Petrossian, Associate Tenant at Doughty Street Chambers, practising attorney at international criminal tribunals Kate Gibson, Director of ArcticWind Limited, criminal investigation company Mark Watson and Head of the Genocide Network Secretariat at Eurojust Matevž Pezdirc.