The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague Karim Khan arrived in Kharkiv to personally assess the consequences of the shelling of the Russian army in the city. This was reported by the ISS press service on Twitter.

“This is a time when we need to show that the law is at the forefront. All parties to the conflict are responsible and can be held accountable in the event of a crime. Our team is working to uncover the truth,” Karim Khan said during his visit.

According to the Russian service of the BBC, in Kharkov, the prosecutor visited the site of the air strike on government buildings, as well as a residential area affected by shelling by the Russian Armed Forces.

 

 

Asked if the ISS intended to prosecute Russian officials and the Russian Armed Forces, Khan said the court was gathering evidence of war crimes.

At the same time, Khan stressed that during hostilities, everyone who has weapons and power has responsibilities. According to him, the court will consider the responsibility of all parties to the armed conflict.

“If people have been killed, we need to know who killed them. If buildings have been damaged, we need to know who damaged them. And whether this was justified by military necessity and in proportion to the goals,” the prosecutor said. He noted that “no one is allowed to do with impunity anything he wants.”

Currently, about 16,000 criminal cases have been opened in Ukraine on the facts of war crimes. Not only Ukrainian prosecutors but also groups of experts from the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Slovakia and France are working to investigate and gather information.

It will be recalled that the human rights organization Amnesty International has prepared a report documenting the use of cluster munitions and other non-election means of attack by the Russian army during the attempt to capture Kharkiv. Human rights activists found “wings” and fragments of banned shells in various parts of the city.

Earlier, Focus wrote that the American edition of the New York Times published previously unknown footage showing the war crimes of Russian servicemen in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region. In total, three videos were published showing the events in the city from March 4 to 5.