Prosecutors in France have launched a war crime investigation into the death of an award-winning French photojournalist killed in a suspected Russian drone strike in eastern Ukraine last week.
France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office made the announcement on Sunday, two days after journalist Antoni Lallican, 37, was killed in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region while on assignment, becoming the first known media worker to die in a drone strike in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Ukrainian journalist Heorgiy Ivanchenko was reportedly wounded in the same attack that killed Lallican, who was on assignment in Donbas for the French photojournalism agency Hans Lucas.
Both were said to have been wearing protective vests marked ‘Press,’ clearly indicating that they were journalists.
Polish state news agency PAP reported that the war crime charge being applied by investigators can be used in cases that include “deliberate attacks on the civilian population… or civilians not directly participating in hostilities.”
France’s Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes is conducting the investigation, according to French broadcaster France24.
Veteran journalist
Lallican’s photographs have appeared in major outlets, including French newspapers Le Monde, Le Figaro and Libération, as well as German publications Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and Die Welt.
The Paris-based journalist first traveled to Ukraine in March 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion, and spent much of his time documenting the impact of the war.
In January, he was awarded the 2024 Victor Hugo Prize for Committed Photography for his powerful reportage ‘Suddenly the Sky Darkened,’ which chronicled the conflict.
A UNESCO estimate released in June places the number of journalists and media workers killed in the ongoing war in Ukraine at 22.