Press conference “Crimes against cultural heritage: documentation and justice”

How to ensure that the destruction of Ukrainian monuments, museums and artifacts by the Russian Federation does not go unpunished? How to collect evidence of crimes against cultural heritage, including by representatives of the cultural sector, so that it can become part of the indictments in international tribunals?

These topics were discussed by the participants of the four-day training in Kyiv: museum workers, investigators, prosecutors, military, academics, civil society representatives, and journalists. With the participation of international experts, they discussed gaps in practices and legislation on collecting evidence of crimes against cultural heritage, developed algorithms for cooperation, and mastered legal tools for prosecuting perpetrators at the national and international levels. Among the trainers are representatives of 7 countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Mauritius, the Netherlands, and Ukraine), including prosecutors who have worked with the International Criminal Court to prosecute crimes against cultural heritage in Mali, Bosnia, and other countries. 

The press conference will summarize the results of the training, outline the main challenges and steps needed to achieve justice.

Crimes against cultural heritage are not only an attempt to erase history, but a targeted attack on the identity of the people.

🔊 Participants of the press conference:

Nataraj Munesamy - Assistant Attorney General of Mauritius, expert on international criminal law;

Andrea Caley, Coordinator of the Advisory Group on War Crimes in Ukraine (ACA), Head of the Cultural Heritage Team;

Anki Peterson - Cultural Heritage Protection Officer in the Royal Netherlands Armed Forces, member of the Advisory Group on War Crimes in Ukraine (ASA);

Anna Neistat, head of The Docket, an initiative of the Clooney Foundation for Justice aimed at bringing perpetrators of international crimes to justice;

Ihor Poshyvailo, co-founder of the Agency for Cultural Resilience (ACURE), Director General of the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity.

April 11, 2025, 10:30-11:30
Ukraine Crisis Media Center (2 Khreshchatyk St., Kyiv)
Online broadcast: UCMC YouTube channel

Accreditation of journalists - on the spot
Contact person: Ksenia Dvornikova - 097 602 34 22

The training “Collecting and Researching Evidence Against Cultural Heritage” was organized by the Agency for Cultural Resilience (ACURE) and the Maidan Museum in cooperation with the Atrocities Crime Advisory Group for Ukraine (ACA - ICJI) and implemented with the support of the Swedish Institute, Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB), Cultural Emergency Response (CER) and DutchCulture.