Ukraine has identified more than 500 suspects in the sprawling investigation, including Russian politicians, military and propaganda agents who “wanted this war, started this war and continued this war,” Irina Venediktova told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.” . . .
“We want to try these war criminals in our Ukrainian courts, which she calls Ukraine,” Venediktova said, while acknowledging the role of the International Criminal Court.
On Monday, Venediktova said she had made multiple visits to Bucha, where “the community is still exhuming bodies from the mass grave.”
“It’s not just war crimes,” she said. “Now we can say – a lot of crimes against humanity.”
The scenes emerging from the Kyiv suburb sparked international outrage, with Western leaders – including President Joe Biden – calling for war crimes investigations and new sanctions against Russia.
The president said earlier this month that the images from Bucha justify calling Putin a “war criminal,” adding, “But we have to gather information. We have to keep providing Ukraine with the weapons it needs to keep fighting and we have to get all the details so that this can be a trial. Actual – prosecute a war crime.”
The International Criminal Court’s top war crimes prosecutor traveled to Ukraine to investigate, and the US embassy in Kyiv argued in the early days of the war that specific Russian attacks constituted war crimes.
Anyone accused of a crime can be tried within the jurisdiction of the court. The Court judges people, not states, and focuses on those who bear the greatest responsibility: leaders and officials.
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