The Polish prosecutor’s office is collecting evidence of Russian war crimes. “Prosecutors have already interviewed 1,700 witnesses of Russian war crimes in Ukraine and collected numerous pieces of evidence, including films and photographs”, announced Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro. The materials are being reviewed by the Tribunal in The Hague.

During a press conference at the National Prosecutor’s Office, Ziobro stressed that, apart from Ukraine, Poland was the first to launch an investigation into the aggression war. 

“As part of this intensive investigation, 1,700 witnesses have been interviewed so far, of which several hundred witnesses and their testimonies have been found to be very relevant to the cases of war crimes committed as part of this aggression war waged by Russia”, the prosecutor said. Some of the evidence is also supported by films and photographs taken by witnesses at the sites of events.

Polish investigators are gathering evidence of Russian war crimes by collecting witness statements mainly on Polish territory. The national prosecutor supervising the investigation, Dariusz Barski, also spoke about the details of the investigation. “We have questioned 1.7 thousand witnesses, but there are a few hundred relevant protocols, which allowed us to isolate 24 plots related to war crimes. They include, of course, killings of civilians, destruction of property, torture of soldiers, illegal deportations. We have even managed to identify the perpetrators,” he said.

Asked who they were referring to, he replied that they were Russian commanders who had committed torture in infiltration camps. These findings are particularly important for the Ukrainian side, which has the possibility of holding trials without detaining the perpetrators.

The Polish investigation into Russia’s attack on Ukraine was launched on 28 February 2022. A joint investigation team of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland was established at the end of March 2022. The team was later joined by: Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania and the International Criminal Court. 

• Arkadiusz Słomczyński