Oleksandra Matvitxuk (Kiv, 1983) is a Ukrainian lawyer and one of the most prominent voices in the defense of human rights in Eastern Europe. She leads the Center for Civil Liberties, a key organization in documenting war crimes committed by Russia. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, she has become an international figure in the fight against impunity. She visited Barcelona at the invitation of CIDOB.

The Attorney General of Spain, Álvaro García Ortiz, has ordered the opening of an investigation in Spain into Israel's "crimes" in Gaza. According to SER (Spanish National News Service) and confirmed by the Prosecutor's Office, the investigation had been requested by Dolores Delgado, the Prosecutor for Human Rights and Democratic Memory, to determine whether the actions could constitute "serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, constituting crimes provided for in Articles 607 et seq." These include the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and crimes against persons and property protected in the event of armed conflict. Delgado, former Minister of Justice under Pedro Sánchez, requested the investigation after receiving a report from the National Police in June that included witnesses and evidence pointing to Israel committing actions contrary to international law in Gaza. She herself, along with the head of the Prosecutor's Office at the National Court, Jesús Alonso, will lead the proceedings, as decreed by the Attorney General. The conclusions of the investigation, similar to the one launched by the Spanish Prosecutor's Office to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine, will be submitted to the international bodies that already have open cases against Israel.

This week started with a international call from twenty-eight Western countries, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and openly denouncing the policies - the war crimes - of the Israeli government in the area. The list of countries signing the call is important and interesting, both for their presence and for some notable absences (Germany). In any case, a statement of this nature and breadth (there is even a government on the list with Zionist sympathies, such as Italy: note the ability of the premier Meloni's (when it comes to normalizing the presence of the far right in international politics) is, in itself, relevant. But at the same time, it has zero effect on what the signatories are calling for an end to: the extreme and "unprecedented" suffering of the population in Gaza.

Russia's war against Ukraine and the extermination or genocide of Palestinians at the hands of Israel have filled us with news—with stories—of crimes committed by the military against the civilian population, under the ever-vague excuse of the need to defend the homeland.

The career of International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is over. This Friday, he announced that he is temporarily stepping down from his post until the investigation into an alleged case of sexual harassment reported by a court employee is completed. Khan was the one who initiated the investigation. The international arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Established in 1998, the ICC is going through the most delicate moment in its history. In recent weeks, an atmosphere of fear has reigned in the Netherlands, and senior officials of this judicial body, which is responsible for investigating and prosecuting war crimes and genocide around the world, have resigned.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov justified the Palm Sunday massacre in the Ukrainian city of Sumi (which left thirty-four civilians dead and more than a hundred injured) by arguing that the building attacked with two Russian missiles was holding a secret meeting of Ukrainian and Western military personnel. "Ukrainian military leaders and their Western colleagues, posing as mercenaries or who knows what," Lavrov described. He added: "There are military personnel from NATO countries in charge there, everyone knows that."