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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Anton Kovalsky: For the first time in Ukraine, the actions of the captain of a Russian vessel who was transporting stolen Ukrainian grain have been qualified as a war crime
This case is much broader than a single charge.
For the first time in Ukraine, a legal approach has been developed and practically applied that allows qualifying a ship captain’s participation in the removal of grain unlawfully taken from occupied territory as a war crime.
Occupation does not give the aggressor state the right to appropriate Ukrainian property and resources. But to hold someone criminally liable, it is not enough to establish only the fact of the grain’s removal.
It is necessary to prove its origin, the circumstances of the unlawful seizure, its movement, methods of concealment, and the conscious participation of specific individuals.
Prosecutors of the Office of the Prosecutor General worked on this legal and evidentiary approach together with investigators and operational officers of the SBU and international experts.
Its significance lies in the fact that liability can arise not only for those who directly unlawfully seized Ukrainian property on occupied territory, but also for those who knowingly assisted in its removal or in hiding its true origin.
That is why the indictment of the captain of the Russian vessel MATROS POZYNICH is of principled importance.
According to the investigation, in November 2022 and January 2023 he facilitated two illegal entries of the vessel into the closed Sevastopol seaport. From there, more than 54 thousand tons of Ukrainian wheat unlawfully taken from occupied territory were removed.
The grain was transported toward the Syrian port of Latakia under the guise of being of Russian origin. To conceal the route, the captain periodically turned off the AIS system and transmitted false information about the vessel’s location.
He has been notified of suspicion, in particular, for violations of the laws and customs of war.
This proceeding is important not only for establishing the responsibility of a specific captain. It develops the practice of legal assessment of the involvement of persons who facilitate the removal of unlawfully appropriated resources from occupied territories.
Today the OPG also announced another case related to the unlawful removal of Ukrainian grain.
Two officials of an Odesa enterprise are suspected of aiding the aggressor state. According to the investigation, they helped conceal the Ukrainian origin of almost 8 thousand tons of grain worth 60 million hryvnias, removed from occupied Mariupol, by passing it off as Russian product.
The legal qualification in these proceedings is different. But in both cases it concerns the unlawful removal of Ukrainian grain from occupied territories and attempts to conceal its true origin.
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