UN Commissioner Calls for Prosecution of Russian Criminals

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has called for the prosecution of crimes committed by Russian occupiers.

Criminals should not escape punishment, reports DW.

He has the impression that at this stage, most will manage to avoid punishment. If they cannot be held accountable in Ukraine or Russia, then UN member states need to decide on the establishment of an international tribunal.

Legal proceedings can also be initiated by individual countries. In 2021, the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, Germany, sentenced a Syrian national to imprisonment for facilitating crimes against humanity in Syria.

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Turk does not consider bringing Russian President Vladimir Putin to account a realistic option. This is currently complicated from both a political and legal perspective.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are investigating about 40,000 war crimes. The UN Human Rights Office sent investigators to Ukraine back in 2014. Reports based on their work have been prepared.

'Just recently, they documented the killing of 441 civilians in three regions in the first months of the full-scale invasion in 2022. This includes 341 men, 72 women, 20 boys, and eight girls,' the UN commissioner clarified.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly has recognized Russia as a terrorist state. They also called for the establishment of an international tribunal regarding Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

A draft resolution is circulating in the UN that provides for the creation of a special tribunal against the military-political leadership of Russia. The Nuremberg Tribunal, which tried the leaders of Nazi Germany, is proposed as a model.