According to the UN report, the Kremlin troops must also be charged with crimes against humanity.
(Photo: IMAGO/VXimages.com)
Geneva The United Nations investigation report contains shocking passages. These are briefly described atrocities that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops committed in the invaded Ukraine: This is how a man arrested by Russians spoke Ukrainian. He could not remember the lyrics of the Russian national anthem. The Russian occupiers therefore beat him.
According to the report, two women in different Russian prison camps in the Kharkiv region had to undress in front of their tormentors. They were raped. A man whose father was executed by the Russians in the Izium region called for the perpetrators to be “fully punished”.
More than a year after the start of the Russian war of aggression, the Human Rights Council’s commission of inquiry into Ukraine presented its report on Thursday in Geneva. The bottom line: The Kremlin’s armed forces have committed numerous war crimes since invading the neighboring country on February 24, 2022. According to the investigators, the Kremlin troops must also be charged with crimes against humanity.
The commission’s chairman, Norwegian lawyer Erik Möse, and his staff listed the crimes as including attacks on civilians and energy infrastructure, premeditated killings, unlawful detentions, systematic and widespread torture, sexual violence, and deportations and abductions of children from the country Ukraine to Russia. The German ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Katharina Stasch, called the kidnappings “particularly despicable”.
In light of the atrocities, the commission recommends “investigating all violations and crimes and holding those responsible accountable, either at the national or international level”. The commission is soon to hand over a list of suspected war criminals to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Norwegian lawyer chairs the commission.
(Photo: IMAGO/Ukrinform)
In addition to the local perpetrators, this list should also include those responsible in the highest levels of the Russian regime, above all President Putin.
Russia rejects dialogue with commission of inquiry
But will Putin and his closest followers have to answer to a judge personally? The Russian President and his regime show no interest in an independent legal investigation of the atrocities. Transferring the perpetrators to international or national courts abroad is out of the question.
So far, the Russian authorities and armed forces have refused any “dialogue” with the UN Commission of Inquiry, as Chairman Möse noted. Russia denies committing atrocities or targeting civilians. However, according to the New York Times, the International Criminal Court in The Hague is planning to open proceedings against suspected war criminals. Putin himself is likely to be among them.
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In the case of possible trials in the absence of the accused, material documented by the UN investigative commission would also be included. The commission investigated 56 towns in Ukraine, such as Bucha. She interviewed 348 women and 247 men. Investigators visited destroyed areas, graves, places of detention and torture, and remains of weapons.
The investigators have no evidence of genocide apart from evidence of war crimes. “We did not find out that a genocide took place in Ukraine,” stressed Möse. According to the Commission’s findings, however, it is too early for a final assessment of this question.
The report also cites a “small number” of violations that appear to have been committed by Ukrainian troops. Among them is an incident that is being investigated by the Ukrainian authorities.
A Commission of Inquiry is the Human Rights Council’s strongest means of investigating abuses and violations worldwide. The members of the Commission are independent human rights experts. The staff are supported and funded by the Human Rights Council and the UN Office for Human Rights.
It is not yet clear whether the commission of inquiry will continue its work. The UN Human Rights Council has to extend the team’s mandate, the original one-year mandate expires this month.
With agency material
More: How EU and UN investigators hunt war criminals – charges against Putin?