Independent UN probe accuses Russia of war crimes

The full extent of Russian atrocities in Ukraine is becoming increasingly visible. Will Putin and his supporters be judged?

03/16/2023 | by Jan Dirk Herbermann

Forensic scientists examine graves in Ukraine © IMAGO/VXimages.com

Geneva The UN investigation report contains shocking passages. These are briefly described the atrocities that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops committed in invaded Ukraine: This is how a man arrested by the Russians spoke Ukrainian. He couldn’t remember the words to the Russian national anthem. The Russian occupiers therefore won.

According to the report, two women in different Russian prison camps in the Kharkiv region had to strip naked in front of their tormentors. They were raped. A man whose father was executed by the Russians in the Izium region has called for the perpetrators to be “fully punished”.

More than a year after the Russian war of aggression began, the Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry into Ukraine presented its report on Thursday in Geneva. Bottom line: Kremlin armed forces have committed numerous war crimes since the invasion of the neighboring country on February 24, 2022. According to investigators, Kremlin troops should also be accused of crimes against humanity.

The chairman of the commission, Norwegian lawyer Erik Möse, and his team listed the crimes as attacks on civilians and energy infrastructure, premeditated murders, illegal detentions, systematic and widespread torture, sexual violence, and deportations and abductions of children from the country Ukraine to the Russia . The German ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Katharina Stasch, called the kidnappings “particularly despicable”.

In the face of atrocities, the commission recommends “investigating all violations and crimes and holding those responsible accountable, whether at the national or international level”. The commission will shortly deliver a list of war crimes suspects to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Erik Möse © IMAGO/Ukrinform

In addition to local perpetrators, this list should also include those responsible at the highest levels of the Russian regime, most notably President Putin.

Russia rejects dialogue with commission of inquiry

But will Putin and his closest followers have to personally answer to a judge? The Russian president and his regime show no interest in an independent legal investigation into the atrocities. Transferring perpetrators to international or national courts abroad is out of the question.

So far, Russian authorities and the armed forces have refused any “dialogue” with the UN Commission of Inquiry, as President 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 prosecute war crimes suspects. 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 commission of investigation would also be included. The commission investigated 56 cities in Ukraine, such as Bucha. She interviewed 348 women and 247 men. Investigators visited destroyed areas, graves, places of detention and torture, and weapon remains.

Investigators have no evidence of genocide other than evidence of war crimes. “We didn’t find out that a genocide took place in Ukraine,” Möse emphasized. According to the Commission’s conclusions, however, it is too early for a final assessment of this issue.

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 Ukrainian authorities.

A Commission of Inquiry is the Human Rights Council’s strongest means of investigating abuses and violations around the world. Commission members are independent human rights experts. The team is supported and funded by the Human Rights Council and the United Nations Office for Human Rights.

It remains unclear 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