The International Criminal Court (ICC) received a mandate to investigate possible cases of executions of prisoners of war that took place during the war in Ukraine. This was stated by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, during a meeting with Ukrainian journalists in The Hague. informs Radio Svoboda.
Karim Khan noted that every provision of the Rome Statute can be applied in such cases. The International Criminal Court develops a strategic approach to the investigation of such war crimes and emphasizes that no one—neither a head of state, nor a commander, nor a soldier—has the right to carry out executions, let alone execute prisoners of war or civilians.
“As the Secretary General (UN) says, even wars have rules, and no one has the right to execute a civilian or a prisoner of war”, – stressed Khan.
He also added that in the case of impunity for such actions, it becomes a matter of jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, as The Hague has jurisdiction over the events in Ukraine, and all those guilty of such crimes can be brought to justice.
Execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war: what is known? Earlier, the Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reacted to the video, which recorded the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russian occupiers. Lubinets said that such incidents are a gross violation of human rights and are unacceptable.
The US State Department also reacted to similar cases, stressing that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has been committing terrible actions, including mass executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war, which is a serious violation of international law.
