The Hague, Netherlands (AP) – A group of countries working together to investigate war crimes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine They gathered in The Hague amid calls for punishment of those responsible for the crimes.
A coordination meeting was held on Tuesday at the EU Judicial Cooperation Agency, Eurojust, with the participation of the joint investigation team and ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, as Russian forces continued their aggression in Ukrainian cities.
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has been widely condemned as an illegal invasion. Russian forces have been accused of killing civilians in the Kiev suburb of Bucha and carrying out repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure, including the besieged city of Mariupol, a hospital and theater used by the road- hundred civilians as shelter. O The Associated Press investigation found evidence that the explosion on March 16 killed up to 600 people inside and outside the building.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the AP and PBS Frontline series have confirmed 273 potential war crimes.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky condemned the killing of civilians as a “genocide” and a “war crime”, while US President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” who should be tried.
A joint investigation team comprising Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland, meeting in The Hague on Tuesday, was formed in late March, just weeks after a Ukrainian court launched an investigation following the resignation of dozens of members. of the court. Investigation. Khan visited Ukraine, including Bucha, and had a team of investigators gathering evidence.
Attorney General of Ukraine, Irina VenediktovaIt will be in between meetings. His office has already opened more than 8,000 war -related criminal investigations and identified more than 500 suspects, including Russian ministers, military commanders and propagandists. Last week, the first war -related case, a Ukrainian court sentenced a captured Russian soldier Maximum sentence of up to life imprisonment for the murder of a civilian.
Russia certainly denies responsibility for its atrocities against its troops. The defense ministry said earlier this month that “no civilians have been killed in the violence of the Russian army.”
The meeting in The Hague is not the only place where responsibility is demanded.
Prosecutors from Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, France, Slovakia, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland launched their own investigations. And requests are growing for the creation of a special court to try Russia for the crime of aggression in Ukraine. The court cannot prosecute the crime of aggression because Russia or Ukraine are not members of the court.
Source: Huffpost
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.