Thousands of Ukrainian refugees interviewed by Romanian prosecutors investigating genocide

Romania’s general prosecutor, Alex Florenţa, stated that thousands of refugees from Ukraine, who arrived in Romania after the start of the war in 2022, were interviewed by prosecutors as part of the international case investigating accusations of genocide.

Alex Florenţa said on Thursday evening, October 16, on Radio România Liberă, that two Romanian prosecutors are working on the international case that aims to collect evidence of genocide in Ukraine. In this way, Romania, along with other countries, is contributing to a larger investigation.

“When the refugees came to Romania, authorities proceeded to interview the vast majority of them, which involved a huge effort. There are thousands of such hearings. Those interviewed were in particular those who showed signs of the military conflict, who reported possible deprivation of liberty, illegal imprisonment, and so on,” the general prosecutor said.

Injured persons from Ukraine, including soldiers, who were treated in Romanian hospitals were also interviewed.

All of the material obtained in this way was sent to The Hague, to the Europol headquarters.

All Eastern European states gathered evidence regarding possible genocide in Ukraine. “There are also efforts to establish a special tribunal for investigating this crime, based on the evidence collected,” Florenţa said.

The efforts, moreover, are still ongoing. “There is also a form on the Public Ministry’s website for any persons who may still be fleeing from Ukraine and who have such matters to report. These forms are translated into Ukrainian and so on, to facilitate interaction with the refugees,” Alex Florenţa added.

According to the Council of Europe, the methods used and statements made at the highest level in the context of Russia's ongoing full-scale war of aggression show a desire to "deny the Ukrainian people's very right to exist as an independent nation.”

“The massacres of Bucha and Irpin, the use of powerful weapons in heavily populated areas, the targeting of civilian infrastructure by Russia, the 'filtering out' and torture of Ukrainian political and cultural elites, the systematic destruction of the spiritual legacy and cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people, the use of food as a weapon, and the forcible deportation of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children as evidence of this new genocidal threat,” the institution noted in a