Russia-Ukraine war: Germany has “in the three-digit range” of proof of war crimes

According to a newspaper interview that was published on Saturday, Germany has gathered evidence of war crimes in Ukraine. He also stated that he believes there should be an international legal process.

According to Peter Frank, “now, for instance, we are focusing on the mass murders in Bucha or attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.”

He said, without going into further detail, that prosecutors currently have pieces of evidence in the “three-digit range.”

Immediately following the start of their invasion in February of last year, Russian forces were accused by Ukraine and its western allies of carrying out crimes in Bucha, a satellite town of Kiev. Moscow has refuted the accusation. Although it denies intentionally targeting individuals, Russia has also attacked important infrastructure in Ukraine.

In order to prosecute potential war crimes, Germany started gathering evidence in March 2022, according to Frank, who also added that German prosecutors were not yet looking into any specific individuals. This evidence-gathering process included interviewing Ukrainian refugees and analysing publicly available data.

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He said, “We are prepared for a potential future court case, whether it is with us in Germany, whether it is with our overseas partners, whether it is before an international court.

Frank responded that people responsible for carrying out orders at the highest military level and Russian state leaders should be put on trial.

Ukraine is advocating for the establishment of a special court to try the military and political figures in Russia who it believes were responsible for beginning the conflict.

Days after Moscow’s invasion on February 24th, the International Criminal Court opened its own investigation into alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes, although it lacks the authority to bring charges for aggression in Ukraine.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, said on Thursday that The Hague would become the international centre for the prosecution of the crime of aggression in Ukraine when she was in Kyiv.