“War crimes are probably in the nature of war,” says Wenzel Michalski. Where violence reigns and people are armed with powerful weapons, war crimes happen. He is not aware of any war or military conflict in which “war crimes have not been committed by all sides”.
This is also the case in Ukraine: it was recently announced here that Ukrainian soldiers had shot at captured Russian soldiers. “You have to look at that too, look at it objectively,” says Michalski. It is “exactly the same” that Russian war crimes are also investigated. “You can’t close your eyes either way.”
In turn, radio messages can now serve as evidence of possible Russian war crimes. According to a media report, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) intercepted radio traffic from suspects. But since they come from the BND, this possible evidence must be examined “independently,” says Michalski. To obtain evidence, however, such statements from possible perpetrators are just as important as eyewitness accounts.
Human Rights Watch is calling for a UN mandate for independent investigations in Ukraine and a single point of contact for all organizations – including Human Rights Watch, the Red Cross, the EU or Germany – that want to solve war crimes. This also requires a bigger budget.
“Issues of Justice”
Most crimes can only be solved when they have already happened. But: “Fairness is important,” says Michalski. There is hope that the perpetrators will be punished and “maybe” this could also deter future criminals.
Michalski considers it likely that there will be convictions after the war in Ukraine. There are now “more legal mechanisms”. For example, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden have a “new international criminal law” whereby foreign criminals, if they are in Germany, for example, can be arrested in Germany and brought to justice.