A Russian missile attack on a city in central Ukraine on Thursday killed at least 23 people, including three children. Two weeks earlier, rockets had crashed into buildings near Odesa, kill 21. And for weeks on the outskirts of Kyiv Buchacivilians have to bear the brunt of the Russian attack – killed on their bicycles or while walking in the street, or handcuffed to be executed.
Russia’s indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas have become a sign of its invasionand this week, an international conference in The Hague sought to coordinate an approach to the overwhelming allegations of war crimes in Ukraine.
But investigators face a formidable challenge, with up to 20,000 war crimes investigations, many national and international agencies in the workplace, and a high burden of proof to convict. To complicate matters further, investigations are underway while the war is still raging. The Kremlin has denied the charges against its forces, and the Russian Defense Ministry has called graphic evidence of the crime “forgery.”
Prosecutors want to prevent a situation in which national and international prosecutors overlap in the search for evidence and witnesses. On Thursday, Karim Khan, a prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, stressed the need to coordinate the investigation and avoid the “trampling” of multiple parties “running to the crime scene”.
In The Hague this week, representatives from 45 countries, including the United States and countries of the European Union, heard testimony about atrocities and pledged about $20 million in support to the ICC, prosecutor general. Ukraine and UN efforts.
Experts say the International Criminal Court, established in 1998 to handle cases of mass atrocities, could be an important route to Russia’s accountability, despite numerous obstacles. for that goal. Neither Russia nor Ukraine are among the 123 member states of the court, but Ukraine has granted the court jurisdiction over crimes committed on its territory.
The Dutch foreign minister, Wopke Hoekstra, said at a press conference on Thursday that the Netherlands was considering setting up a special international war crimes tribunal in Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine speaks at the video conference even as rescuers are digging through the rubble from Thursday’s missile attack on Vinnytsia, a city far from the fighting on the eastern front. “This is an act of terrorism by Russia,” he said.
On Wednesday, the United States Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken, speak The Russian government has“Deportation” between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, from their homes into Russian territory, often to isolated regions of the far east. The illegal transfer of protected persons is a violation of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime, he said.
Russia acknowledges that 1.5 million Ukrainians are currently in Russia, but insists that they have been evacuated for their own safety.
The history of war crimes cases suggests it will be difficult for prosecutors to bring cases related to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Three of the most prominent prosecutions – against Slobodan Milosevic, Charles Taylor and Saddam Hussein – were brought against leaders who had lost power; No sitting president has ever been assigned to an international court.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has significant support at home and has developed close relationships with the leaders of other major countries, including of China, Turkey and Iran.
Proving war crimes, and especially proving who ordered a certain action, is also very difficult. In Mr Putin’s case, prosecutors will have to prove that he issued specific orders that led to specific atrocities, that he knew about the crimes or that he did nothing to prevent them. they.
Prosecutors will also have to show that Russian commanders intentionally targeted civilian structures or attacked them in attacks that did not distinguish between civilian and military targets. Gathering such evidence or testimony may not be possible in the near future, at least as long as the fighting is intense.
Marlise Simons contributed reporting from Paris.
