Ukraine: the difficult investigation of the Boutcha massacre continues
French gendarmes observe bodies being exhumed in Boutcha, April 12, 2022. AP - Rodrigo Abd
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3 mins
In Boutcha, more than 400 bodies have been found since the liberation of the city, according to the mayor.
Only 160 have so far been identified, but the investigation continues.
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With our special correspondent in Boutcha,
Cléa Broadhurst
About fifteen French gendarmes from the Criminal Research Institute
arrived on the spot on Tuesday, this is the first team of international investigators to go to Boutcha.
She went, together with the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova, near the Church of Saint Andrew, in the city center.
For fifteen days, the investigators will collect the necessary evidence and hear the witnesses, to bring to justice those responsible for
the destruction of the cities around Kiev.
They come to collect
evidence that war crimes
have been committed in Boutcha.
On Tuesday alone, a dozen additional bodies were found.
They were laid in black bags in the back of a truck and the gendarmes were already able to see the work that awaited them.
The Attorney General stressed the importance of international teams coming, not only to show the world what happened here, but also to show that Ukraine has nothing to hide.
“
It is very important that international teams like the one that arrived today come to show the world what is happening here and to hold those responsible to account.
The world must see that Ukraine is not hiding and trying to hide anything.
International experts have the opportunity to see for themselves and they will be able to exhume bodies to see if it is fake or not
,” she said.
“There were only Russian soldiers who were there watching the building burn”
Access to this city remains difficult because it has been “blown away” by Russian bombardments.
To get there, you have to cross bridges gutted by craters a few meters in diameter.
On the outskirts of the city, the buildings are destroyed when they are not blackened by the smoke of the bombs.
In the neighborhoods near the center, there is not much left: shops, gas stations and playpens have been burned.
“
Something fell, a rocket maybe, on the building where our shelter was.
The roof and the top floor were completely burned.
It was really scary.
We went out to see what was going on and tried to call the fire department, but no one came.
There were only Russian soldiers standing there watching the building burn.
My wife saw people crossing a pedestrian crossing when Russian soldiers killed them on the spot
,” said Oleksander, a resident of the city.
Many volunteers put on orange vests and set to work clearing away the ruins of houses or the burnt tanks that still lay on street corners.
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To read also: [Live] War in Ukraine: Russia announces the surrender of more than a thousand soldiers in Mariupol
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