The UN High Commissioner for Human RightsMichelle Bachelet warned this Friday that UN experts are finding “increasing evidence” of war crimes perpetrated during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including summary executions of civilians and indiscriminate bombing.
(Read: The future of the war in Ukraine “depends on the fate of Mariúpol”)
In the eight weeks of conflict”international humanitarian law has not only been ignored but totally abandoned,” Bachelet said in a statement where he denounced the indiscriminate attack and shelling of populated areas, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine.
(He is interested in: Russia’s victory in Mariúpol is questioned by the United States)
Nearly every Bucha resident these experts spoke with reported the death of a relative, neighbor or other person.
Along with these attacks, which in themselves would constitute war crimes under international law, is becoming known in increasing detail “the scale of summary executions of civilians in areas previously occupied by Russian forces,” stressed the former Chilean president.
In one of the first places where these summary executions were reported, the town of Bucha (about 30 kilometers west of kyiv), United Nations human rights officials documented the murder of at least fifty civilians, after visiting the place on last April 9.
The attack on the Kramatorsk railway station on April 8, which killed 60 people and injured 111 othersalso symbolizes, according to Bachelet, the lack of respect for international laws that prohibit indiscriminate military actions of this type.
The high commissioner called for efforts to preserve the evidence of these crimes in the face of possible future legal proceedings, as well as the dignified treatment of the mortal remains of these massacres and psychological help for survivors and their families.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented the death of at least 2,345 civilians and 2,919 injuries during the war, although Bachelet stressed that the true number of victims “could rise much higher when the horrors in areas of intense fighting, such as Mariupol”.
That mission has received reports of at least 300 murders in towns in the kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkov and Sumy regions during the period in which they were partially controlled by Russian forces, in late February and early March.
It has also confirmed at least 114 attacks on medical facilities, and according to Bachelet, her experts estimate that at least 3,000 civilians died due to lack of access to health care.
forced lockdowns
Some of them were allegedly tortured or ill-treated, denied food or water, or locked up in overcrowded places.”
Among the deceased “people were forced by the Russian armed forces to stay in cellars or those who were not allowed to leave their homes for several days or weeks,” said the high commissioner.
The mission has also received 75 complaints of sexual violence against women, men and minors perpetrated by Russian soldiers, especially in the kyiv region.
Other abuses collected by these experts include the widespread use of arbitrary arrests of civilians by Russian or pro-Russian forces, with more than 155 complaints in this regard, including arrests of local leaders, journalists, activists and human rights defenders.
Although much of the UN’s denunciation is directed against the Russian invaders of Ukraine, the office has also received reports of indiscriminate attacks on civilians by the Ukrainian army in Donbas, as well as arbitrary arrests by the Ukrainian armed forces or related groups.
Both sides have provided videos of apparent torture and murder of detainees, including prisoners of war, the United Nations statement added.
“Our work for now tells a story of horror and violations against civilians“, summarized Bachelet, who indicated that “this senseless war must end, and if it does not, at least all parties must clearly instruct their forces to respect international humanitarian law.”
Mariupol mass graves
The mayor’s complaint came shortly after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, announced the taking of the city, which in any case is incomplete because the Azovstal steel mill remains to be occupied, where at least 2,000 Ukrainian combatants resist, completely surrounded by the Russian occupants.
The mayor of this port city that the Russians say they have completely taken over showed these images on his Telegram account: “In the photos (taken) by Maxar on April 9, the sector of the mass grave in Mangush (in the Mariupol area) is 20 times larger” than the one in Bucha, the message explains.
Boychenko argued that “the biggest war crime of the 21st century has been committed in Mariupol. This is the new Babi Yar. Hitler then killed Jews, Roma gypsies and Slavs. And now (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is destroying the Ukrainians”.
It has already killed tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol. And this calls for a strong reaction from the entire civilized world. Something has to stop the genocide.
The mayor had already announced on Thursday that a mass grave of about 30 meters long had been found dug by Russian troops about 20 kilometers from the city, near the town of Manhush.
With almost half a million inhabitants, Mariupol is the main port on the Sea of Azov and is key in Russian attempts to link the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk with occupied Crimea.
It has been constantly bombed since almost the beginning of the Russian invasion. According to the City Council, several thousand people have died during the siege of the city, where some 100,000 people still remain without any type of basic service.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE
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