The Times - UK (2022-03-18)

the times | Friday March 18 2022 2GM 7

News

American officials are documenting

and evaluating allegations of atrocities

in Ukraine, which the country’s top dip-

lomat said amounted to Russia having

committed war crimes.

Antony Blinken, the secretary of

state, said that he agreed with President

Biden’s assessment that the Kremlin’s

actions during the three-week invasion

could be classed as war crimes.

The UN’s top court has ordered

Russia to stop its military attacks in

Ukraine after the Kyiv government

brought a claim under the “genocide

convention”. The ruling from the Inter-

national Court of Justice (ICJ) at the

Hague came as a leading war crimes

expert called for Interpol to issue a “red

notice” for the arrest of President Putin.

The ICJ is the top civil court at the

Hague, operated in parallel with the

International Criminal Court (ICC).

The claim was backed by 13 of the

15-strong judicial bench. The dissenting

votes were cast by the Russian judge

and vice-president of the court, Kirill

Gevorgian, and Xue Hanqin, the judge

from China.

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, told

the BBC there was “strong evidence”

that Putin was the instigator of war

crimes. She stopped short of echoing an

earlier comment by Biden, who de-

scribed Putin as a “war criminal”, a re-

mark that drew a strong rebuke from

the Kremlin.

The ICJ ruling ordered Russia to “en-

sure that any military or irregular

armed units which may be directed or

supported by it, as well as any

organisations and persons which may

be subject to its control or direction,

take no steps in furtherance of these

military operations”.

Ukraine’s application to the court

was brought by lawyers at the London

and Washington offices of the law firm

Covington & Burling two days after

Russian tanks crossed the border into

Ukraine last month.

Jonathan Gimblett, a partner in

London, said that in principle the order

— made under the UN’s 1948 Conven-

tion on the Prevention and Punish-

ment of the Crime of Genocide — was

binding on the Kremlin. Legal experts

said the ruling was symbolic because

there was little the court could do if

Russia continued to flout it.

Concern continues to grow about the

tactics of Putin’s forces in Ukraine after

a Russian airstrike on a shelter in a

theatre in Mariupol.

Asked whether the attack on the be-

sieged city amounted to a war crime,

James Cleverly, a Foreign Office minis-

ter, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

“The targeting of civilian infrastruc-

ture, the targeting of civilians is a

breach of international humanitarian

law and the law of armed conflict.”

He added that the collection of evi-

dence was “incredibly important so

that those people who are responsible

for these, whether they are battlefield

commanders, right up to the top of the

organisation, can be held accountable”.

Speaking to The Times, David Crane,

71, the US lawyer who was the chief

prosecutor at the UN’s special court for

Sierra Leone between 2002 and 2005,

said a red notice should be issued for

Putin’s arrest. He said it was likely that

the ICC’s chief prosecutor, the British

barrister Karim Khan QC, would first

indict him on charges of war crimes.

“Once he has done that, he could

apply to Interpol for a red notice,” said

Crane, who added that when he prose-

cuted offences in Sierra Leone, issuing

a red notice for Charles Taylor, the Li-

berian president, was “the most impor-

The ICJ was born out of the postwar

realignment in 1946. All UN member

states are de facto parties to the court,

which generally hears international

law cases that do not involve allega-

tions of war crimes.

The ICC was founded in 1998 in the

wake of special courts that had been set

up for cases involving allegations from

the war in Yugoslavia and the Rwandan

genocide.

tant political move I made”. He ac-

knowledged that the ICC would not try

Putin or his associates for war crimes in

absentia, and that for a case to proceed,

defendants would have to be brought

before the court.

However, he pointed out that he

waited two years after issuing an indict-

ment against Taylor before the Liberian

was surrendered to the court and ulti-

mately convicted of war crimes.

from both sides”
would lose children
in the conflict.
She said Putin was
making “mincemeat”
of Russian soldiers as
young as 18 for the
sake of his “imperial
ambitions”. She
described some of
Putin’s supporters
as “bald toads”
indoctrinating their
compatriots. “For the
first time in my life, I
encountered absolute
and unadulterated
evil,” she said. “I do
not consider the
Ukrainian people
my enemy. I
consider them
brothers and
sisters.”
The author
was said to
be one of
three
people
facing
an inquiry
under the
censorship
laws. The
other two were
not named but were

said to be from

Siberia. They are

alleged to have

published “knowingly

false information

about the losses of

Russian military

personnel, as well

as about their

actions in Ukraine”.

Officials in the

United States have

said that at least 7,

Russian soldiers have

been killed since the

start of the war on

February 24. Russia

has admitted to

only 498

casualties,

however.

The rebels

who defied

Putin,

Times

The author Veronika

Belotserkovskaya wrote

about the invasion to

her 900,000 followers

y

re

p

a

News

America gathers evidence to

support claims of war crimes

Jonathan Ames Legal Editor

Can President Putin be

charged with war

crimes?

Yes, the president and

any other Russians

involved in decision-

making about the

invasion of Ukraine and

the prosecution of the

war on the ground can

be brought before the

International Criminal

Court in the Hague.

Does it matter that

Russia is not a member

of the ICC?

Russia is not a signatory

to the treaty that

founded the court in

1998 but if Putin or any

other Russian is

delivered to the court,

they can be prosecuted

and sentenced if

convicted.

How likely is it that

Putin or any of his

cronies will be

charged?

It is looking increasingly

likely that Karim Khan

QC, the court’s chief

prosecutor, will indict

some senior Russians

and potentially Putin

himself. Khan has

already instructed his

team to investigate

potential war crimes

and judging by

evidence collected so

far by reporters and by

Ukrainians, there would

seem to be at least a

prima facie case for an

indictment. However,

legal experts say that

one of the biggest

problems is verifying

the many files of

video evidence

captured by civilian

mobile phones.

Does that mean Putin

will be hauled in front

of the court?

That is very unlikely

while he remains in the

Kremlin. But indicting

Putin could put a

crimp in his future

travel plans as any state

that is a signatory could

arrest him.

Could the court try

Putin or other Russian

leaders in absentia?

International legal

experts have said that

the court’s judges are

resistant to trying

defendants who are not

appearing before them.

Critics of the court

have complained since

its inception that the

body is too political and

there is a fear that

trying defendants in

absentia would

provide fodder for

those claims.

The likely route to a

prosecution of Putin

would involve a coup at

the Kremlin and a new

regime that was

prepared to hand him

over. As the court itself

states, it “does not have

its own police force or

enforcement body; thus,

it relies on co-operation

with countries

worldwide for support,

particularly for making

arrests, transferring

arrested persons to the

ICC detention centre...

freezing suspects’

assets, and enforcing

sentences”.

What sentence could

Putin face if he and

others were convicted

by the ICC?

The court can hand

down sentences

involving the payment

of reparations or jail

time. In 2019, the court

handed down its

harshest prison

sentence when it sent

Bosco Ntaganda, a

Congolese rebel

commander, to jail for

30 years.

If handed a custodial

sentence, where would

the Russian leader

serve his time?

The ICC has a detention

centre but it is only

used to hold defendants

during their trials.

Those given jail

sentences are sent to

prisons in one of the

countries that has

“concluded

agreements on

enforcement of

sentences with the ICC

and have accepted to

place a particular

convicted person or

persons within a

national facility”.

How many people

have been indicted by

the court and how

many have been

convicted?

In total, 45 people have

been indicted, nine of

whom have been

convicted. Six cases —

including allegations

concerning the war in

Ukraine — have been

started and are being

investigated by the

court.

What is the difference

between the two UN

courts?

The International Court

of Justice is much older.

It was founded in 1946

and succeeded the

Permanent Court of

International Justice,

which was set up in

1920 by the UN’s

predecessor

organisation, the

League of Nations. The

ICJ hears disputes

between UN countries,

excluding war crimes

and crimes of

aggression.

The International

Criminal Court hears

allegations of war

crimes and has indicted

international figures

including Omar

al-Bashir, the former

president of Sudan, and

Charles Taylor, the

former president of

Liberia.

Could the ICC look at

allegations other than

war crimes?

Legal experts point out

that from 2017 the court

has brought within its

jurisdiction allegations

of crimes of aggression

— in other words, using

armed force to commit

a “manifest” breach of

the UN’s rules by

invading a sovereign

country. According to

Geoffrey Robertson QC,

the leading human

rights barrister, the

ICC’s chief prosecutor

“should have no

difficulty proving that

the invasion of Ukraine

was an act of

aggression, given its

scale and its appalling

consequences in death

and destruction and

over a million refugees.

The prosecutor would

only need to call

evidence of these facts

— a Ukrainian

government minister, a

few victims who

witnessed or were

injured in the bombings,

and transcripts of

Putin’s own public

speeches. There would

be ample photographic

evidence to provide

proof.”

Q&A

EAST2WEST NEWS