The European Union on Wednesday proposed a plan to establish a specialized court to investigate alleged Russian war crimes committed not only in Ukraine, but also against it as a “sovereign state.”
Thousands of investigations into war crimes allegations have been opened by Western nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC), although not all nations, including the US and Russia, recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.
However, the head of the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, President Ursula von der Leyen said a “specialised” court should be established with UN backing.
WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGE
Part of the body of a Ukrainian soldier emerges from the ground during an exhumation in the recently retaken area of Izium, Ukraine, Friday, September 16, 2022. Ukrainian authorities discovered a mass burial site near the retaken city of Izium containing hundreds of graves.
(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
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“Russia must pay for its horrible crimes, including its crime of aggression against a sovereign state,” he said. “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought death, devastation and untold suffering.”
“That is why, while we continue to support the International Criminal Court, we propose to establish a specialized court, backed by the United Nations, to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression,” von der Leyen added.
Details of the tribunal have not been announced, but reports on Wednesday suggested that the specialized tribunal could be based on an international treaty or could reflect a hybrid court that is based on a national legal system encompassing international judges.
Von der Leyen argued that the court could more efficiently hold the Kremlin accountable and had “the means to make Russia pay” reparations for damage suffered in Ukraine.
However, a mishap by the commission’s chairman on Wednesday caught the attention of the proposed tribunal when he stated that “more than 20,000 civilians and 100,000 Ukrainian military officers have been killed so far.”
Civilian casualties in Ukraine remain largely unknown, with the UN reporting some 17,000 casualties since the war began. Although the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warned in its latest update on Monday that it “believes the actual figures are considerably higher,” noting that reporting on such data has been largely incomplete as fighting continues. and investigations.
Civilian deaths in Mariupol alone have been estimated at between 10,000 and 21,000 by Ukrainian officials.
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Emergency workers move a body during an exhumation in the recently reclaimed area of Izium, Ukraine, Friday, September 16, 2022. Ukrainian authorities discovered a mass burial site near the reclaimed city of Izium containing hundreds of graves.
(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
However, it was von der Leyen’s suggestion that 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the fighting that caused a stir.
The head of the Press Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Bohdan Senyk, told Ukrainian media outlet Pravda that he could not confirm the statistic provided by the commission’s chairman.
“We stress that the Ukrainian army’s losses are classified information,” he said, adding that the military supports EU action to hold Russia accountable.
The deputy chief spokesperson for the European Commission later clarified that von der Leyen was referring to the casualty count, not just those killed in action.
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Ukrainian national guard servicemen carry a bag containing the body of a Ukrainian soldier in an area near the border with Russia, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, September 19, 2022. Seven bodies were recovered in this operation of Ukrainian soldiers from what was the battlefield in recent months.
(AP Photo/Leo Correa)
“The estimate used, from external sources, should have been for casualties, meaning both killed and wounded, and was intended to show Russian brutality,” Dana Spinant said in a post on Twitter.
Von der Leyen’s statement posted on the EU website was edited to remove the line referring to the 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed, and the statement was edited from video posted on social media.
