Human rights group Amnesty International on Friday said there was strong evidence of war crimes, including torture of civilians and extrajudicial killings, carried out by Russian occupying forces in Bucha in February and March.. Amnesty International experts have documented at least 22 such cases, according to the Russian service of Voice of America..
The head of the human rights group, Agnes Callamard, spoke to reporters with the following statement:.
Amnesty International took the rare and even historic step of condemning Russia's illegal use of force as a violation of the United Nations Charter and an act of aggression. Under international law, this is a crime.. Recognizing it as such right now is a step that we rarely take.”.
Evidence of Russian war crimes against Ukrainian civilians includes disproportionate attacks on civilians, the use of internationally banned cluster munitions that are so indiscriminate that they are now banned by international law, violence against civilians, and failure to secure humanitarian corridors, Kallamar notes..
These crimes are not just isolated incidents or accidental consequences of war.. They are part of a systematic behavior that has characterized Russia's military operations from the very beginning of its invasion of Ukraine, the authors of the report emphasize..
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As President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said today, speaking via video link at the CHATHAM HOUSE analytical center, the Russian leadership does not believe in the possibility of being held accountable for war crimes against Ukraine and Ukrainians.
Zelensky stressed that Russia is showing extreme cruelty and disregard for all international conventions, all international law and human rights, as well as for the inviolability of borders and the integrity of states in Europe.
Why is Russia doing all this Because they think: if they can be held accountable for such crimes, then only in decades. They simply do not believe that the international community is capable of bringing to justice for war crimes those who hide behind the power of a nuclear state,"