A former United Nations attorney general overseeing war crimes investigations in Rwanda and Yugoslavia has called for an international arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an interview published Saturday in the Swiss newspaper Le Temps, Carla del Ponte denounced the Russian authoritarian as a “war criminal” for orchestrating the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On the left, former UN Attorney General Carla del Ponte, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Keystone via AP; Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
In an interview with Swiss media about the release of her latest book, the Swiss lawyer overseeing the UN investigations in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia said that clear war crimes had been committed in Ukraine.
RUSSIA INVASES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES
She said she was particularly shocked by the use of mass graves in Russia’s war against Ukraine, which is reminiscent of the worst wars in the former Yugoslavia.
The military equipment left behind by the Russian soldiers was scattered near a tank during a military scan by Ukrainian soldiers after the Russians withdrew from the area on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, April 1, 2022. (AP Photo / Rodrigo ))
“I hoped not to see mass graves again,” he told Blick. “These dead people have loved ones who do not even know what happened. This is unacceptable”.
Other war crimes he identified in Ukraine included attacks on civilians, the destruction of political buildings and even the demolition of entire villages.
ZELENSKY REACTED TO DESTRUCTIVE IMAGES FROM UKRAINE: “THIS IS GENOCIDE”
He said the search in Ukraine would be easier than in Yugoslavia because the country itself had requested an international search. The current ICC Prosecutor General, Karim Khan, visited Ukraine last month.
If the ICC finds evidence of war crimes, he said, “you have to move up the hierarchy until you reach those who made the decisions.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to female flight attendants in comments broadcast on state television on Saturday, March 5, 2022. (Reuters Video)
Del Ponte said even Putin could be held accountable, pointing to the investigation of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic while he was still in power.
Milosevic was arrested in the early 2000s on war crimes charges after orchestrating a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Serbs during the break-up and break-up of Yugoslavia. He died in a prison cell while awaiting trial in The Hague.
“Who would have thought then that one day he would be judged? Nobody,” he told Blick.
CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
Del Ponte added that investigations into possible war crimes committed by both sides should be carried out, citing reports of alleged torture of some Russian prisoners of war by Ukrainian forces.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
