International reporting
War in Ukraine: in Boutcha, investigations to document possible war crimes
Audio 02:35
Volunteers load the remains of Boutcha victims for examination at a morgue, April 13, 2022. © AP/Rodrigo Abd
By: Clea Broadhurst Follow |
Jad El Khoury
3 mins
Boutcha's images shocked the whole world and prompted the international community to mobilize to open several investigations to establish that the Russian army potentially perpetrated war crimes in Ukraine.
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From our special envoys in the region,
The survivors of the Russian occupation of the town of Boutcha all have brutal memories in their minds.
Near a mass grave in St. Andrew's Church, Oleg still can't believe he got out alive.
"
I saw children aged 4 and 10, burned alive with their mothers
," says Oleg.
“
How can you digest this?
I saw my neighbor's shredded body in front of me, he was missing a lung and the Russians wouldn't let us take his body to bury it properly.
When I close my eyes now, that's all I see
."
Evidence collected over time
It is under a gray sky, the wind whipping the black bags which contain the bodies of the victims, that the general prosecutor of Ukraine, Iryna Venediktova, went to Boutcha.
She comes to establish that war crimes took place in the small town not far from kyiv.
"
Boutcha has the aftermath of all war crimes, torture, sexual abuse, bombed infrastructure and civilian homes
," describes Iryna Venediktova.
“
Like Borodyanka, it is a town without military structures, and nothing remains of them.
We can testify to a large number of war crimes in the Kyiv region and we can qualify them as crimes against humanity
,” she adds.
► To read also: Ukraine: the difficult investigation of the Boutcha massacre continues
The evidence is gathered as it happens by the citizens themselves who have tools at their fingertips to list war crimes, as explained to us by a Ukrainian MP, Lesia Vasylenko.
There is a smartphone application to report cases of torture, abuse, attacks against civilian targets such as schools or hospitals… Everyone has a smartphone now, people can send their photos of a bombed out clinic by the Russians even as the war continues.
How will the Russians be able to claim that everything is fabricated when twenty people have photos of the same event, from different angles, of Russian troops targeting civilians?
"In the Kyiv region, we see potential war crimes on every street corner"
International investigators have also arrived to carry out in-depth investigations on the ground.
This is the case of Belkis Wille, senior researcher in the Crisis and Conflict Division of the organization Human Rights Watch.
“
What is striking in some parts of the country is the scale of these abuses.
In the Kiev region alone, we see potential war crimes on every street corner, around all the buildings, and it's quite remarkable
, ”says Belkis Wille.
“
The other thing that sets this conflict apart is that there have never been in history so many opportunities to obtain evidence, within the framework of judicial mechanisms.
It's really unique.
»
► To read also: Mass graves in Boutcha in Ukraine: "It is far too early to speak of genocide", according to Amnesty
The Russian government persists and signs, everything is fake and made by kyiv.
But overwhelming evidence is piling up and Ukrainians hope it will be used in an international criminal court.
© RFI
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