WAR CRIMES INVESTIGATIONS

Photographer

Carol Guzy
Prize

1st Place / Main/Conflict
Company/Studios

ZUMA Press
Date of Photograph

2022
Technical Info

Nikon D850

Communities in Ukraine recently liberated from Russian troops deal with atrocities of war as investigators exhume civilian bodies from makeshift graves during war crimes investigations in the spring of 2022. ‘I don’t want to live with hate in my heart,’ said Svetlana Kostyantyn about the Russian soldiers that killed her husband as police exhume his body from their backyard in Irpin. Kostrya, father of her child, love of her life. Taken away in an instant by a sniper’s bullet.

Biography

Carol Guzy was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on March 7, 1956. In 1978 she completed her studies at Northampton County Area Community College, graduating with an Associate's degree in Registered Nursing. A change of heart led her to the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale to study photography. She graduated in 1980 with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Photography. She was a staff photographer at The Miami Herald for eight years and 30 years at the Washington Post. She is currently an independent photojournalist on contract with Zuma Press.
Awards

• Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography, 1995 (Military Intervention in Haiti) • Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography, 1986 (Mudslide Armero, Colombia - Shared with Michel du Cille) • Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, 2000 (Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo – Shared with Lucian Perkins & Michael Williamson) • Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography 2010 (Haiti Earthquake - Shared with Nikki Kahn & Ricky Carioti) • Newspaper Photographer of the Year, 1989, 1992 and 1996, o (National Press Photographers Association, POY) • Photographer of the Year, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2023 (White House News Photographers Association) • Overseas Press Club, John Farber Award, 1996 (Citation of Excellence, 1986, 1995 2000) • Visa d'Or Award for News Photography, Visa Pour L'Image (Perpignan, France), 1995 • Leica Medal of Excellence, 1994 • Honorary Doctorate Degree (Doctor of Humane Letters), 2000 • F. Kennedy Award, Grand Prize International Photojournalism 2009 • Robert F. Kennedy Award, Outstanding Coverage of the Disadvantaged in America, 2010 • Robert Capa Gold Medal, Overseas Press Club 2018 • Chris Hondros Memorial Award, International News 2020 • WHNPA Lifetime Achievement Award 2021 • Hugo Shong Lifetime Achievement Award 2022

Story

‘I don’t want to live with hate in my heart,’ said Svetlana Kostyantyn about the Russian soldiers that killed her husband as police exhume his body from a makeshift grave in their backyard during war crimes investigations in the liberated town of Irpin, Ukraine on April 19, 2022. Kostrya, father of her child, love of her life. Taken away in an instant by a Russian sniper’s bullet as he was walking through a park to deliver food to an elderly neighbor. When his brother rushed to help, he too was gunned down.

Two weeks later Svetlana and her son Sergii 31, sat for a lengthy interview with police. Bodies littered towns in the suburbs of Kyiv after the Russian invasion and occupation began and were later painstakingly pulled from mass graves and family homes as forensic evidence was collected.

Svetlana wistfully spoke about her husband who wooed her. She did not immediately respond to his courtship and was not impressed with a huge bouquet of roses. He danced beautifully and always had a lot of women around him. But Kostya was resolute that she was the one, and a week later he proposed. They married in 1989.

Svetlana had problems with her retina and was frightened she could lose her eyesight, but Kostya repeated ‘Do not be afraid, I will be your eyes.’

Kostya loved animals and rescued them. One of his dogs poignantly walked in circles around the empty grave after his body was taken away in a wheelbarrow.

To date there are 24,425 civilian casualties: 8,983 killed and 15,442 injured as reported by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

They were finally able to give him a proper burial at Irpin Cemetery and have some peace knowing he is now at a final resting place. They chose a blue coffin (one of the colors of the Ukrainian flag) because it was free.

‘He’s in the sky,’ said Svetlana looking up with a tender bittersweet smile.