PACE calls for creation of international tribunal to investigate Russia’s war crimes

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has called on all member and observer states of the organisation to establish an international tribunal to investigate and prosecute “the crime of aggression allegedly committed by the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation”, the PACE website informs.

The unanimously adopted resolution says that PACE is appalled by widespread reports of the use of rape and torture as weapons of war, “both of which are recognised as war crimes in international criminal law”.

The assembly pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin had granted an honorary title to the 64th motorised infantry brigade, which was posted in Bucha at the time of the reported atrocities. This step “cynically encourages Russian troops to continue committing similar actions, which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, with impunity,” the resolution stresses.

Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan visited Ukraine’s Bucha shortly after Russian troops had left the city. Khan stated that after Bucha, the entire territory of Ukraine can be considered a crime scene.

Russian troops pulled out of the Kyiv Region in early April. Shortly after that, mass civilian deaths were reported in numerous cities and villages in the region, including Bucha, which was occupied by Russia since the start of the invasion on February 24.

The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that the Russian army had left the city on March 30, dismissing the reports of civilian deaths in Bucha as “another provocation.”