The Swiss Attorney General’s Office spokesman has confirmed the initiation of criminal proceedings over the attack on Swiss journalist Guillaume Briquet by an alleged Russian military officer, Swissinfo reported.

Guillaume Briquet was wounded in an attack on March 7, 2022, when he was driving from Kropyvnytskyi to Mykolaiv. The car with Geneva licence plates and the inscription “PRESS” was shot twice from the driver’s and passenger’s sides. When the journalist left the car, the soldiers, identified as Russians, stole 3,000 euros in cash, his passport and other belongings.

With Civitas Maxima’s assistance, Truth Hounds reported the attack on Briquet to the Swiss authorities.

At the beginning of 2022, the Swiss Attorney General’s Office created a working group to preserve evidence related to crimes committed in Ukraine, as the Swiss authorities are competent to consider these acts under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

However, in this case, Briquet’s Swiss citizenship extends Swiss jurisdiction over the alleged war crime through the principle of passive personality. It recognizes the jurisdiction of a state over crimes committed abroad against its citizens, regardless of the nationality of the alleged perpetrator.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Russian troops have been targeting journalists in Ukraine. Last year, 13 journalists were killed by Russian troops.

  • In addition, RSF continues investigating the murder of Ukrainian photographer Max Levin. In particular, the international human rights organization confidentially received the numbers of 72 mobile phones of the Russian military, which were in the same place as the journalist on the day of his death in the spring of 2022 in the Kyiv Oblast.

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