Prosecutor General: Corpses of 410 civilians from Kyiv region to be examined

Alyona Mazurenko – Sunday, 3 April 2022, 19:20

After the liberation of the Kyiv region, the bodies of 410 civilians killed in the region during the Russian occupation were taken to be examined by forensic experts. Any evidence gathered by experts from the victims will be recorded for the ongoing case of Russia’s war crimes.

Source: Iryna Venediktova, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, on Facebook

According to Venediktova: "Prosecutors, investigators, and forensic experts are constantly on duty at the forensic bureau to conduct DNA examinations, autopsies, and sampling.

So far, 410 bodies of killed civilians have been removed from the territory of the Kyiv region, and on April 1-3, 140 of them were examined by prosecutors and other specialists."

Details: According to the Prosecutor General, there is crucial evidence of brutal war crimes perpetrated by the Russian Federation in the liberated territories of the Kyiv region: "This hell must be documented in order to punish its inhuman perpetrators."

Venediktova said that the entire territory liberated from the occupiers is divided into segments, in each of which there are investigative and operational groups of prosecutors, investigators, and operatives of the National Police.

These groups include forensic inspectors, explosives technicians, dog handlers, and forensic experts or doctors: "Ahead [of each group] is always the SES [State Emergency Service] – the enemy rigged cities and towns with explosives, there is a lot of unexploded ordnance, they booby-trapped even the corpses of the local residents."

Over 50 National Police staff and prosecutors are currently involved in the investigation in the Bucha district alone.

Similar work is underway in all liberated towns and villages of the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.

In the future, the Office of the Prosecutor General will increase the number of investigative and operational groups.

Simultaneously, work with the local population is taking place: search for witnesses and victims, and photo and video evidence.

In addition, Venediktova warned "helpers" that the liberated territories are still dangerous, much of them deliberately mined by the Russian troops; there is lots of unexploded ordnance.

Background: On 1 April, Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk of Bucha announced that the city was liberated from the Russian occupiers.

Soon after, information began to emerge about the atrocities committed by the Russian military in the occupied city. In particular, Mayor Fedoruk said that a mass grave where almost 300 people were buried had been found in the city, and dozens of corpses lay in the streets, some of them with their hands tied. The bodies of naked women were also found on the city streets.