An international UN commission investigating war crimes in Ukraine said on Thursday it had sufficient evidence to suggest that Russian authorities had committed war crimes in Ukraine and also in Russia itself.
In addition, Russian forces committed crimes against humanity in the wave of attacks that began in October 2022 against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, as well as the politicians who validated the Russian military’s use of torture.
“The commission concluded that the Russian armed forces carried out attacks with explosive weapons in populated areas with apparent disregard for the suffering and harm to civilians,” says the report, which was presented to the press today and will be brought out next week. to Human Rights Watch. UN Rights Council.
In the course of their investigation, members of the UN group (Erik Møse from Norway; Jasminka Dzumhur from Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Pablo de Greiff from Colombia) traveled eight times to Ukraine, visiting 56 cities and interviewing nearly 600 people, as well as visiting destroyed sites, detention and torture centers, and witnessing all the remains of weapons and explosives scattered throughout the country.
The commission further stated that it had not observed genocide in Ukraine since the Russian invasion of the country, but recommended further investigation into this issue.
“We have not found that a genocide has occurred in Ukraine,” Erik Møse, one of the three experts in charge of the investigation, told reporters.
Mose noted, however, “that certain aspects may raise questions about this type of crime.”
As Russian forces advanced into Ukrainian territory, the deaths of civilians who had nothing to do with the hostilities, as well as their detention and confinement in facilities built for the purpose in occupied Ukraine and Russia, multiplied, according to the document.
In these places, ill-treatment quickly turned into torture for reasons as trivial as “speaking Ukrainian” or “not remembering the words to the Russian anthem.” Russian soldiers broke into private homes and committed or threatened sexual violence against women and men, he said.
Of the children deported to Russian territory, witnesses heard by the commission indicated that the youngest may have permanently lost contact with their families.
On the other hand, the commission’s investigations also made it possible to establish that the invasion of Russia and the attacks against Ukraine can constitute an act of aggression, which can be investigated and the International Criminal Court (ICC) can initiate legal proceedings.
The commission also investigated human rights violations and excesses by Ukrainian forces, although in this case it found “a small number of violations,” notably two incidents in which Russian soldiers were injured, tortured or shot, “which could qualify as a war crime. .
From their interviews, the commissioners concluded that the greatest wish of the Ukrainian population, and in particular of the victims of atrocities, is for justice to be done and for those responsible, including the masterminds, to be brought to justice, at the national level. or international.
“What is needed is an accountability approach that includes both criminal liability and the victims’ right to truth, reparation and non-repetition,” the report says.
Source: TSF
