Russia's war in Ukraine has reached the courts of Argentina. The organization of journalists and lawyers The Reckoning Project, based in Ukraine, has appeared before the federal justice of the Latin American country to request that they investigate the alleged torture perpetrated by Russian soldiers against a Ukrainian man in an occupied area in the south of the country, since either for the commission of this crime or for facilitating it. This NGO reported on Tuesday that the victim was illegally detained and locked up with almost twenty people in a ten-square-meter cell. During his confinement, according to the complaint, he was tortured with electric shocks until he lost consciousness.
The decision to appear before an Argentine judge responds to the search for new doors to knock on for help. Ukraine's judicial system is saturated by the multiple complaints of human rights violations received since the Russian invasion of the country on February 24, 2022. "The prosecutors investigating in Ukraine are overwhelmed," Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk says by phone. co-founder of The Reckoning Project. “For us Ukrainians, the idea of seeking justice in Argentina is both a call for international support to defend the rule of law and a hope that justice is possible,” she adds.
The Constitution of Argentina allows its courts to apply international jurisdiction to judge crimes against humanity regardless of the place where they were committed and the nationality of the perpetrator and/or the victim. The Argentine federal justice system already has three cases open under this legal principle. The first, started in 2010, is linked to crimes perpetrated by the Spanish Franco regime between 1936 and 1977. The second dates back to 2021 and investigates the alleged genocide against the Rohingya community in Myanmar. The latest international case was opened last year against the Venezuelan Armed Forces: at the request of the Clooney Foundation, Justice is investigating apparent systematic violations of human rights perpetrated in the country led by Nicolás Maduro.
The Reckoning Project's complaint details the torture against M. (anonymous for security reasons). According to his version of events, he was kidnapped at work and transferred to a center where he remained for twenty days along with other detainees. There he was interrogated and beaten. The complainant relates that they tied electrical cables to his ears and fingers to electrocute him. “They tortured me with electric shocks. It was incredibly painful, so I lost consciousness. I was lucky to survive, many people are still there,” M. told the Reuters agency.
The evidence presented by the organization has not been confirmed by alternative sources, but coincides with investigations by international organizations, including the United Nations, which have documented human rights violations against Ukrainians. “I am one of many. So many other people I know were subjected to even worse things. I want to tell the world about our pain. These practices continue to happen in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia,” stressed M.
Gumenyuk affirms that his organization has documented more than one hundred cases of people who have suffered torture, including dozens electrocuted with mechanisms similar to the one reported. However, if the case succeeds in the Argentine Justice, at the moment they are not considering expanding the complaint.
The Reckoning Project values the vast knowledge of Argentine lawyers and prosecutors in crimes against humanity and the judicial process that has convicted more than 1,200 repressors of the last Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983). The NGO coordinated meetings between M. and Argentine survivors and believes that having gone through similar experiences helped him understand the universality of the crimes that ask to be investigated. “In Argentina I understood that justice is a long road, and that it is possible when people unite. I met people who suffered the horrors of torture, but never gave up. Thanks to the fact that people here understood my pain, I hope there is the possibility of accountability,” said M.
According to the latest report from the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), in the first two years of the Russian invasion of Ukraine at least 10,582 civilians were killed and almost 20,000 were injured. The organization also documented numerous cases of summary executions, forced disappearances, torture, ill-treatment and arbitrary detentions at the hands of the Russian Armed Forces.