We are talking about the age of children from 4 to 16 years.
The Prosecutor General's Office is investigating several dozen cases regarding strong>sexual violence by the Russian military and identified five children between the ages of 4 and 16 who were victims of such a crime, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told LB.ua in an interview.
< p>“There are cases established in criminal proceedings of sexual violence against children. Five children between the ages of 4 and 16 have been identified as victims of this category of war crimes. But we all understand that there are many more such crimes than I have already mentioned… This is a difficult job,” said the Prosecutor General.
According to him, they work with children using the “green room” system with the direct participation of a psychologist who helps investigators. In particular, in some cases there are testimonies that can be used as evidence in these criminal proceedings.
Kostin added that the number of prosecutors in the department dealing with war crimes of a sexual nature has been increased, including through the creation of a special department , which will deal with the provision of pre-trial investigation and procedural management of these crimes, which are related to the armed conflict.
“This is a specific and very sensitive field of activity, it requires certain training. We have prosecutors who are ready for this work. Now we are choosing those in the Office of the Prosecutor General who will work there directly,” said the head of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Also, the Prosecutor General's Office plans to establish communication with citizens who have left the country, but could have been witnesses or victims of war crimes of Russia.
“You know that any crimes of a sexual nature are characterized by a very high level of latency, I apologize for that word, it is a legal term. That is, they are committed much more than is known, if only because many people simply do not want to communicate for various reasons. Therefore, we can rely only on those facts regarding which we have certain statements and regarding which certain testimony is provided,” the Prosecutor General summarized.
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The UN office reported that since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it received more than 150 reports of sexual violence by the Russian military.
