Ex-UN prosecutor calls for International Arrest Warrant

[struggle4progress]

Lisa Kim
Forbes Staff
Apr 2, 2022,01:49pm EDT

Carla Del Ponte, the former chief prosecutor for two U.N. war crimes tribunals, called for the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with a Swiss newspaper published Saturday ...

“Putin is a war criminal,” Del Ponte, who oversaw the U.N.’s prosecution of war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia from 1999 to 2007, told Le Temps.

Del Ponte said an international arrest warrant would restrict Putin from leaving Russia, and “it would be a strong signal that he has many states against him,” according to Deutsche Welle.

Del Ponte told Blick that she was shocked by the use of mass graves in Ukraine to bury victims of Russian attacks, which she said reminded her of what she saw in the former Yugoslavia ...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim/2022/04/02/ex-un-prosecutor-calls-for-international-arrest-warrant-for-putin-calls-him-a-war-criminal/?sh=7623b334ccf3

[struggle4progress]

1. ... Other war crimes she identified in Ukraine included attacks on civilians,

the destruction of civilian buildings and even the demolishing of entire villages.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-europe-international-criminal-court-war-crimes-4a6bd9c60b1dcf3e01b0d3723207c927

[struggle4progress]

2. ... Last week, an official with United Nations' Human Rights Office said

there is "increasing information" on mass graves being used in Mariupol, Reuters reported ...

The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it had opened an investigation into alleged war crimes in Ukraine on February 28, days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began. Karim Khan, the court's top prosecutor, wrote at the time that he was "satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine in relation to the events already assessed during the preliminary examination by the Office" ...

Late last month, the U.S. formally accused Russia's military of committing war crimes.

"The U.S. government will continue to track reports of war crimes and will share information we gather with allies, partners, and international institutions and organizations, as appropriate. We are committed to pursuing accountability using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a statement ...

Putin's Ukraine War Crimes Merit Global Arrest Warrant: Ex-UN Prosecutor
BY XANDER LANDEN ON 4/2/22 AT 12:43 PM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/putins-ukraine-war-crimes-merit-global-arrest-warrant-ex-un-prosecutor-1694473

[Botany]

7. "increasing information" on mass graves being used in Mariupol

Last edited Sat Apr 2, 2022, 04:20 PM - Edit history (1)

Except for the pictures being in color vs black and white, the bodies not being so emaciated, and the corpse being covered.
the pictures from Mariupol look like something from Nazi death camps. Putin needs to die for this horror.

[struggle4progress]

3. Gruesome evidence points to war crimes

... We counted 13 bodies on a nightmarish stretch of road not much more than 200 yards long, between Mria and Myla, villages whose Ukrainian names translate as Dream and Sweetheart.

Two of the dead are confirmed as Ukrainian civilians who were killed by the Russians. The others have not been identified yet - they lie where they were killed - but only two are wearing recognisable Ukrainian military uniforms.

Our BBC team was able to get to the area, on the main E-40 highway as it approaches Kyiv, because Ukrainian forces had captured the sector only 10 hours earlier.

The marks of battle and of heavy shelling were everywhere. Petrol stations and a hotel that was well-known for its spa and restaurant were in ruins. Shell holes and craters pockmarked both carriageways ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60949791

[smirkymonkey]

4. K&R

[L. Coyote]

5. Carla Del Ponte, Swiss lawyer who oversaw U.N. investigations in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[struggle4progress]

6. Pentagon Accuses Russia Of 'War Crimes'

The U.S. military accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in their bloody invasion of Ukraine, echoing comments made by President Joe Biden and by European Union and Ukrainian officials.

"We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing on March 21.

"But there's investigative processes that are going to go on, and we're going to let that happen. We're going to contribute to that investigative process,” he said. “As for what would come out of that, that's not a decision that the Pentagon leadership would make" ...

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-borrell-mariupol-war-crime/31763025.html

[jaxexpat]

8. What a concept, eh? "International Arrest Warrant". Sounds so righteously ominous.

Lucky for us that US presidents can't be subject to such a recklessly judgmental United Nations.

[brooklynite]

9. Meh...

Putin won't travel to any country where an arrest warrant would be applied.

[malaise]

21. Just like Bush and CHeney

Oh wait - are there calls for their arrests?

[brooklynite]

22. Considering the US doesn't recognize the ICC, I'm thinking "no".

[dchill]

10. I, too, call an for International Arrest Warrant.

There. I doubled it. What - do many world leaders think they might need to do this, too? Where is the clamor of agreement?

[yaesu]

11. this post from the UK gov

Link to tweet

Appalled by atrocities in Bucha and other towns in Ukraine. Reports of Russian forces targeting innocent civilians are abhorrent.

The UK is working with others to collect evidence and support @IntlCrimCourt war crimes investigation. Those responsible will be held to account.

[BigmanPigman]

14. I hope that they include raping Ukranian women infront of their children

and are used as human shields.

[marie999]

16. They are raping children in front of their mothers too.

[BigmanPigman]

18. Typical Russian behavior. They are non--humans.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/may/01/news.features11#:~:text=But%20some%20women%20were%20deeply,eighty%2C%22%20she%20recounted%20later.

So many of the women killed themselves after this, especially those that they impregnated.

Leopards don't change their spots.

[Pacifist Patriot]

20. That was a very difficult article to read.

I had no idea of the scope and stages, but I'm not surprised. Raping women has always been epidemic in war zones and the aftermath.

[kacekwl]

12. Prosecutor calls for arrest. Let's see if that happens.

We know how that goes.

[Evolve Dammit]

13. The "civilized" world needs to unite and destroy this bastard. I don't care how at this point.

[Warpy]

15. Burying people in mass graves isn't the problem.

The problem is the wholesale slaughter of civilians.

I've never understood the horror at mass graves. When large numbers of people are killed over a short period of time, that's what you need to do to protect the living. One hopes they were identified or photos were taken before they went in so their families will know what happened to them, but there is not always enough time for that.

Charging Putin with war crimes seems only fair.

[marie999]

17. NATO needs to be sending them missiles to take the war to Russia.

I have written this before and told that would make Putin more violent. How much more violent than the raping of children. If he uses bio/chem weapons then NATO has to step in.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

19. Lock him up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Texin]

23. What would it take to have INTERPOL issue a Red Notice for Putin?

[Stainless]

24. Charge And Trial In Absentia In The Hague......

And do it now, not later on.

It would at least officially notify him that the whole civilized world hates his fucking guts. It will also send a message to the rest of the uncivilized world that Genocide will be the end for you too......

[McKim]

25. Good!

Good!!!! When is she calling for the prosecution of Bush and Blair for their War on Iraq. The Lancet estimates that a million Iraqis died as a result!

[BobTheSubgenius]

26. It wouldn't start WWIII to barge in and arrest the Kochs.

Just sayin'...