As of 31 October 2022, OHCHR – through the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine
(HRMMU) – had documented summary executions and attacks on individual civilians in 102 villages and towns of the three regions between 24 February and 6 April 2022. The acts in question were committed by Russian armed forces in control of these areas and led to the deaths of 441 civilians (341 men, 72 women, 20 boys and 8 girls). One hundred of those killings are analysed in this report and its Annex, as illustrative examples of the suffering borne by civilians in these areas.
Information available to OHCHR indicates that the total number of summary executions and lethal attacks directed against individual civilians by Russian armed forces in the three regions during the reporting period is likely considerably higher.
Postmortem changes refer to various processes that occur in a body after death producing a variety of effects. These changes can be divided into early and late time periods, the latter represented by decomposition, however the entire process represents a continuum. While the sequence of events can be predicted, many variables can influence the rate and extent of these alterations to the body, and so it is simply not possible to reliably estimate an accurate time of death (“postmortem interval”) based on these changes alone.
More than a year has passed since Russian troops invaded the town of Bucha in Ukraine. Serhiy Nuzhnenko was one of the first photojournalists to enter Bucha in the midst of the invasion. His before-and-after images show its striking restoration and the resilience of its residents.
In this paper, the authors provide an overview of the deaths incurred during the early weeks of the war and will attempt to illustrate the range of variables which will inform the practical response to recover and identify those killed, before they receive their final burial. It will introduce some of the organisations which have provided forensic support and will also identify emerging ethical considerations which should be monitored for the remainder of the conflict.
Postmortem changes constitute the natural progression of the body’s decomposition after death, beginning at the cellular level. The process involves complex cellular and biological phenomena. The changes that commence immediately after death continue to occur over a prolonged period at different rates for different organs. The onset and extent of these changes are affected by multiple intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The rates are not precise and differ from one geographical region to another and also differ in the same geographic region from one season to another. Understanding postmortem changes is essential for estimating the postmortem interval (PMI) or time since death, one of the primary objectives of the forensic autopsy. The timings of the appearance of the various postmortem changes mentioned in this brief overview of postmortem changes are only guidelines pertaining to tropical climates unless otherwise specified and should never be considered as absolute.
Forensic pathologists are essentially required to estimate the time since death (TSD) to assist in death investigation by limiting the investigation period and thus helping narrow down the number of suspects in homicide cases. TSD also provides valuable information in establishing the timeline of events that lead to death. This activity reviews the prevalent methods, including traditional and modern techniques, and the inherent shortcomings of the methods of estimation of time since death relates to the essential points needed by members of an interprofessional team managing the medico-legal investigation of death.
An AFP team were the first journalists to discover the horrors of Bucha, a quiet commuter town near Kyiv, occupied by the Russian army for over a month, where Russian troops are accused of massacring hundreds of civilians. This is Danny Kemp’s account of what they saw that day. Some may find it distressing.
KYIV (7 December 2022) – In the initial weeks of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian armed forces summarily executed or carried out attacks on individuals leading to the deaths of hundreds of civilians, the Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner said today. A UN Human Rights report based on the work of the Mission details how Russian troops killed civilians in Ukrainian towns and villages across the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine from 24 February until 6 April 2022.
Bogner said the summary executions examined in the report may constitute a war crime. “There are strong indications that the summary executions documented in this report may constitute the war crime of willful killing,” she said.
