an NGO denounces mass rapes by Russian soldiers in occupied zones and against prisoners

These are crimes that are underestimated but still exist. In Ukraine, Russian soldiers are carrying out mass rapes in occupied zones as well as against civilian and military prisoners. This is the observation made on Thursday June 13 by the NGO SEMA Ukraine, which has been providing assistance to victims since the start of the conflict in 2014 and which today denounces a systematic and deliberate policy on the part of the Kremlin.

On February 24, 2022, when the first detonations were heard around kyiv, Daria, 33, took refuge with her parents. A few days later, the Russian army captured his village. “Several Russian soldiers forced the door of our house and started targeting my family and me, she says. And while threatening to kill us, they asked me to follow them.” Daria is taken to an abandoned house. For two days, she suffered repeated rapes. Other women are assaulted in front of their loved ones.

In its March 2024 report, the United Nations independent commission of inquiry reported numerous crimes of sexual violence and rape, whether against women, minors, or even men. These crimes are difficult to quantify, while NGOs speak of thousands of victims.

But the latter have limited access to justice. Ukraine’s penal code, dating from the Soviet era, does not recognize rape as a crime in its own right, explains war crimes specialist Florence Hartmann. “Ukrainian investigators are gathering testimonies, but are they able to judge before their own authorities? she asks herself. This is the question that arises, because the crime itself will not be treated as such.” A situation which led Daria has filed a complaint before a foreign court, which she prefers to keep quiet for the moment.