Here’s what to know about war crimes and how perpetrators are prosecuted.
People stand amid newly-made graves at a cemetery in the settlement of Staryi Krym outside the Ukrainian city of Mariupol on May 22. A court in Kyiv on Monday sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for killing an unarmed man, accusing 21-year-old Vandi Shishimarin of premeditated murder and violating the “rules and customs of war.”The trial was the first prosecution of a Russian service member for war crimes committed in Ukraine since the Feb. 24 invasion.
Ukraine is so far prosecuting Russian forces under its own criminal code. But the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague is also investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The International Criminal Court said on Feb. 28 it is investigating possible war crimes in Ukraine. Experts tell The Post how the legal process works. What counts as a war crime?
The modern framework for assessing war crimes was born out of the Nuremberg trials following World War II. Nazi Party officials, military officers and German elites were tried on charges including crimes against humanity. At the time, the international community sought to establish guardrails that would minimize the horror of future conflicts.
War crimes include the deliberate targeting of civilians; attacks that cause disproportionate civilian casualties given the military objective; and attacks on hospitals, schools, historic monuments and other key civilian sites. Plenty of horrific acts of violence resulting in civilian deaths would not meet the definition.
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