3 ways to bring Russians to justice over war crimes in Ukraine: US official
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Ukrainian servicemen get ready to repel an attack in Ukraine's Lugansk region on Feb 24, 2022.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON - Bringing Russians involved in crimes against humanity in Ukraine to justice can be done via three pathways, the US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice told reporters on Wednesday.
These pathways, which are currently operative, are Ukraine’s domestic courts, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other courts around the world, said Ms Beth Van Schaack.
Her remarks come just ahead of the one-year mark of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and follow comments by US Vice-President Kamala Harris
Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General has recorded over 70,000 incidents of potential war crimes and other atrocities, Ms Van Schaack told reporters on a conference call.
The European Union, Britain and the United States are supporting the work of the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General in a project called the “Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group”, which involves sending experts to the field to work side by side with Ukrainian counterparts, she said.
The ICC had the consent of Ukraine to accept its jurisdiction, she added.
The ICC website records that the court opened an investigation into the situation in Ukraine in March 2022.
Additionally, “we have seen courts around the world opening investigations of war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine under principles of extraterritorial jurisdiction”, Ms Van Schaack said. “European prosecutors are particularly interconnected. They have formed a joint investigative team.”
“We’ve seen acts of murder, rape, torture and the deportation of Ukraine’s children,” she contended. “There is mounting evidence that these mass atrocities are being committed in every region of Ukraine where Russian forces are deployed.”
Ms Van Schaack said that as Russia continues to violate international law, it is incredibly important that the international community stay focused and united around the imperative of justice.
“Winning the war is more than just winning on the battlefield. It also means winning the fight for justice,” she said.
Russia has ignored the accusations and has – in its own courts – charged 680 Ukrainian officials, including 118 members of the armed forces and Defence Ministry of Ukraine, with “breaking laws governing the conduct of war, including the use of weapons against civilians”, its state-owned news agency Tass reported on Monday.
Casualty estimates vary widely. Western intelligence sources quoted in reports estimate that each side has suffered about 150,000 casualties since the invasion began on Feb 24, 2022. On Tuesday in Geneva, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said at least 8,006 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 13,287 injured since the war began, but he added that “our data is only the tip of the iceberg”.
However, there are obstacles bringing perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice. The primary obstacle is custody of the accused, which many courts require. This means that cases may not be tried in the absence of the accused.
But courts can take a number of preliminary steps, Ms Van Schaack said. For instance, the ICC can issue arrest warrants, which can be shared with Interpol and applied globally.
“Of course… getting up the chain of command to the architects of violence is going to be more of a challenge,” she said. “And so long as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and his inner circle remain within Russia and remain in power... they will, in essence, enjoy impunity.
“That said, they’ll also be trapped in their own country,” she said. “So gone will be the day that they can visit Paris and go shopping or visit their children, if their children are studying abroad. All of this will be foreclosed because there will be potentially international arrest warrants out for them.”
She also noted that there is no statute of limitations for war crimes or crimes against humanity, so arrest warrants can remain open for the rest of the life of the accused.
