Ukraine – France donates a second mobile DNA-analysis laboratory to Ukraine (9 May 2023)

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France has today delivered a second mobile laboratory for rapid DNA analysis and expertise to Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice, a donation that follows the one made in July 2022.

This new donation is part of France’s resolute support for the fight against impunity amid Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the serious crimes committed during it.

The lab, made available by the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas France’s Gendarmerie Forensic Institute (IRCGN) and funded by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs’ Crisis and Support Centre (CDCS), is a rapidly-deployable instrument unmatched in the world of forensic genetics.

It allows rapid genetic analysis of a large quantity of biological samples. Produced by the company TRACIP (Chapsvision Group), it is the result of a patented innovation by the IRCGN, which is expert at identifying victims and gathering and using material elements in a judicial context.

The laboratory will be entrusted to the forensic research institute in the city of Dnipro. It follows France’s donation of a similar laboratory to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine on 14 July 2022, which was accompanied by specific training in the use of the DNA lab, which French gendarmes provided to 10 experts from the Ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs in Kyiv, Kharkhiv and Zaporizhzhia.

Since the beginning of the conflict, France has been resolutely committed to ensuring that those responsible for the mass atrocities committed during the Russian aggression against Ukraine are held accountable for their actions and brought to justice. It has provided a judge and several specialized investigators to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and has made an exceptional financial contribution to the ICC of €500,000. A mission of two forensic doctors and some 15 IRCGN gendarmes was also deployed on the ground from April to July 2022. Among other things, this mission produced 200 expert reports, delivered to the Ukraine prosecutor’s office to contribute to the investigations under way.

Under the impetus of the French presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Eurojust agency’s mandate was also strengthened to enable the agency to preserve, store and analyse evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide, with a view to redistributing them to the criminal investigations opened by Ukraine, by the judicial authorities of the EU Member States and by the ICC.

In solidarity with the Ukrainian people, France will continue to lend its support to the fight against impunity in Ukraine.