Dr. Gazeas and Dr. Umansky represent former Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and former Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhart Baum at pressing Criminal charges for international crimes in the Ukraine war

The former Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and the former Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhart R. Baum have filed a criminal complaint against the Russian President Vladimir Putin, his close circle of leaders and a large number of members of the Russian armed forces for war crimes and crimes against humanity with the Federal Prosecutor. They are represented by Dr. Nikolaos Gazeas and Dr. Andrej Umansky.

The criminal complaint was written by Dr. Gazeas and Dr. Umansky. It lists examples of specific war crimes and crimes against humanity under the German Criminal Code (VStGB) that have already been committed by the Russian side during the war in Ukraine. It contains names of specific units that have acted in Ukraine, some of which have not yet been named publicly in Germany.

The criminal charges are based on the International Criminal Code, which has been in force in Germany since 2002. With this code, the Federal Republic of Germany implements the so-called principle of universal jurisdiction. According to this, if there is sufficient initial suspicion, criminals can be charged and sentenced in the Federal Republic of Germany for international crimes they have committed abroad, even if they have no connection to Germany.

The criminal complaint was presented at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin on 7 April 2022. The full text is available here. An English translation of the criminal complaint can be found here.

The press release in relation to the criminal complaint is available here.

Among others, SPIEGEL, the Washington Post, ARD Tagesschau, Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, LTO and JUVE reported on the criminal complaint.

A joint interview with Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and Dr. Gazeas on the criminal charges has appeared on the german law blog LTO.