Ukraine probes 9,000 alleged Russian war crimes
Kyiv, May 1 (EFE).- Ukraine has launched an investigation into over 9,000 alleged Russian war crimes, the eastern European’s chief prosecutor said Sunday.
“To date, we have 9,158 cases over war crimes,” Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said during a televised telethon, the state-backed Ukrinform news agency reported.
“Every day we have grounds to initiate more and more new cases – the death of civilians, bombing, deportation of our people and children to the occupied territories or the territory of the aggressor state,” Venediktova added.
The prosecutor said the process of bringing justice to the victims of the alleged crimes had already been kickstarted.
Venediktova added that several Russian soldiers suspected of being guilty of war crimes had been identified.
“In the Kyiv region, there are 15 people whom we are bringing to justice for torture, rape, and looting,” she reported. “Prosecution over the Chernobyl seizure has also begun.”
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan said last month that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that crimes had been committed in Ukraine within the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has also created an independent commission of inquiry and more than a dozen countries are collaborating with Ukraine to collect evidence of alleged atrocities. EFE
cph-int/ch
