Romanian prosecutors notified ex officio over the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The Prosecutor’s Office upon the Romanian High Court has been notified ex officio, 138 days after the beginning of the Russian invasion, regarding the aggression launched against Ukraine by the Moscow forces.

The General Prosecutor’s Office was notified “regarding the commission of crimes against humanity, prev. of art. 439 para. (1) lit. g) and k) of the Criminal Code ”. The competence for conducting investigations belongs to the Military Prosecutor’s Office.

The provisions of the Criminal Code invoked refer to “harm to the physical or mental integrity of persons”, respectively “other such inhuman acts that cause great suffering or harm to physical or mental integrity”.

“On January 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a large military operation (air, land and sea) to invade Ukraine – an independent and sovereign state. According to existing public information, the military attack is widespread and systematic, being directed against both military and civilian targets, resulting in the bombing of schools, hospitals, shopping malls, directly affecting the civilian population in Ukraine.

The consequences of the attack are particularly serious, with a large number of deaths, including children and injuries, among the civilian population.

At the same time, as a result of the psychological trauma caused by the military attack of the Russian Federation, millions of civilians have left the territory of Ukraine, currently having the status of refugees, including on the territory of Romania. According to art. 10 C.p., the Romanian criminal law also applies to crimes committed outside the territory of the country by a foreign citizen against a Romanian citizen. Jurisdiction is exercised by the Romanian criminal investigation bodies and based on the principle of universality. The research also takes into account the possession of Romanian citizenship by Ukrainian citizens,” says a press release by the court.