how will the investigation into the death of two French humanitarian workers be conducted?

The Central Office for the Fight against Crimes Against Humanity (OCLCH) will be responsible for carrying out investigations into the deaths of two employees of Swiss Protestant Entraide.

They died in a drone attack. Two French humanitarian workers were killed on Thursday, February 1, in southern Ukraine, when a Russian strike targeted two vehicles from Entraide protestante suisse (Eper), a Swiss non-governmental organization. The attack took place in Beryslav, a small town located on the north bank of the Dnipro, near the front line, according to information from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat). According to the NGO, three other French nationals and a Ukrainian were also injured.

“Russian barbarity targeted civilians in Ukraine,” reacted Stéphane Séjourné, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the social network X (formerly Twitter). On this occasion, the head of French diplomacy confirmed the nationality of the two French nationals. For his part, Emmanuel Macron denounced a “cowardly and unworthy act”.

In response, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat), within which the judicial center for the fight against crimes against humanity, war crimes and offenses is located, opened an investigation. The decision has been made “with regard to the nationality of the victims and the first elements collected on the circumstances of the commission of the acts”, specifies the Pnat. This investigation is notably opened for “war crime by deliberate attack”, “voluntary attack on the life and physical integrity of a person protected by international humanitarian law”, “deliberate attack against the civilian population” and “launch of a deliberate attack against civilian property,” he explains.

Cooperation with Ukraine

Therefore, the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes Against Humanity (OCLCH) is responsible for carrying out investigations into the deaths of these two employees of Swiss Protestant Entraide. It is in a way the “armed arm of the Pnat”, according to General Jean-Philippe Reiland, who heads this office attached to the gendarmerie. Interviewed in February 2023 by franceinfo, he explained that a cell made up of seven investigators is dedicated to Ukraine. If their way of conducting investigations remains “fairly classic”however, they face difficulties in getting to the crime scene, especially in a country at war.

However, these investigators must travel to carry out their findings and collect testimonies. Experts from the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN) can participate in these missions, to take samples. The means of investigation implemented are therefore important. Sometimes with the expected success, thanks to judicial coordination with Ukraine. In this case, French magistrates and investigators accompany their Ukrainian counterparts to the crime scenes. Mutual assistance and cooperation are essential in these matters. Thus, the Pnat will probably be required to discuss with the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office the circumstances of the death of the two French people.

For his part, thehe Ukrainian national police announced Friday via a message on Telegram the opening of an investigation for violation of the laws and customs of war. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the memory of the two on social networks “brave” French humanitarians who “helped people”he castigated the “Russian terror” which does not take into account the “nationality of the victims”.

Several ongoing investigations

For both countries, the process is becoming more and more established. The investigation into the death of the two humanitarian workers is the tenth opened by the Pnat since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Several French civilians have in fact been killed in Ukraine.

Arman Soldin, an AFP journalist, died in May 2023 during a Russian rocket attack in the east of the country, near Bakhmout. Before him, Pierre Zakrzewski, a Franco-Irish cameraman for Fox News, was killed in mid-March 2022 northwest of kyiv after the attack on his vehicle. Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, journalist for BFMTV, also died at the end of May 2022 while following a humanitarian mission in the east of the country.

To date, according to information from franceinfo, no preliminary investigation opened against X is yet at the investigation stage. However, the trials remain in the crosshairs of French justice. “Russia will have to answer for its crimes”assured Stéphane Séjourné, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.