The absolute prohibition of torture is an unconditional and immeasurably important idea of modern constitutionalism and international human rights law. It is not merely a norm enshrined in Article 3 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, but also the philosophical foundation of the functioning of the modern state: a…
Category: Russian invasion
“We’ll Be Closing the Windows”: The Self-Isolation of Russian Society as a Performance of a Carceral State
— How many open windows do we have in total? — They’re all open. — We don’t know when to stop. Well then, we’ll close the open windows. Yevgeny Schwartz. “To Slay the Dragon” (1944) There is a particular kind of academic ‘stagnation’: when a phenomenon is so vast and so obvious that the scientific…
Dmytro Yagunov: Crime and Social Control in Ukraine 2013-2025: Analysis of Transformation Under War Conditions
This study examines crime trends in Ukraine from 2013 to 2025, with particular focus on the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion beginning February 2022. The analysis reveals that Ukraine represents the first testing ground for studying modern warfare’s impact on a contemporary democratic state operating under European legal frameworks. Pre-war (2013-2021), Ukraine demonstrated consistent crime…
Crimes Committed with Firearms and Explosives During Wartime: Statistical Overview for 2013–2025
The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created conditions that might reasonably be expected to produce a dramatic surge in firearm-related crime. The massive influx of weapons, breakdown of administrative controls in certain territories, displacement of millions of civilians, and general wartime disruption would logically correlate with increased illegal firearms usage. However, Ukrainian…
‘No Air Raid Siren Will Stop an Intimate Massage When the Time is Right’: Analysis of Police Statistics on Creation of Brothels
The data on offenses of creating or running brothels and procuring in Ukraine from 2013 to 2025 reveals significant fluctuations that reflect both law enforcement priorities and broader societal disruptions. The period reached its peak in 2014, when authorities registered 509 crimes and issued 379 notifications, representing the highest level of documented activity throughout the…
Undermining Justice Under Fire: Crimes Against Justice in War-Time Ukraine
During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, crimes against justice have predominantly receded into the shadows, presenting a paradoxical statistical landscape that masks a deeper crisis in institutional accountability. Police statistics demonstrate a dramatic volatility in registered crimes against justice, with initial precipitous declines followed by recent surges that suggest systemic dysfunction rather than genuine…
The Russian Full-Scale Invasion and Crime in Ukraine: A Wartime Analysis of Criminal Justice Dynamics (2013-2025)
The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 marked not only a military and humanitarian catastrophe but also a critical juncture for the country’s criminal justice system. The past four years of war have had a pronounced negative impact on Ukrainian society and the criminal justice system, fundamentally altering crime patterns and revealing systemic…
Dmytro Yagunov: The Wartime Paradox: Torture Prosecution Effectiveness in Ukraine (2013-2025)
The prosecution of torture in Ukraine presents a paradoxical case study in criminal justice effectiveness. Analysis of official statistics spanning thirteen years (2013-2025) reveals fundamental shifts in investigative capacity, prosecutorial commitment, and systemic dysfunction that challenge conventional assumptions about the relationship between state resources and criminal justice outcomes. Here, we examine torture police statistics across…