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Context: U.S. President called Russia’s Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” for the unfolding onslaught in Ukraine, where hospitals and maternity wards have been bombed.
Who is a war criminal?
- The term applies to anyone who violates a set of rules adopted by world leaders known as the law of armed conflict. The rules govern how countries behave in times of war.
- Those rules have been drawn from the Geneva Conventions in the aftermath of World War II and protocols added later.
- The rules are aimed at protecting people not taking part in fighting and those who can no longer fight, including civilians like doctors and nurses, wounded troops and prisoners of war.
- Treaties and protocols lay out who can be targeted and with what weapons. Certain weapons are prohibited, including chemical or biological agents.
What specific crimes make someone a war criminal?
- Acts that amount to war crimes include willful killing and extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity, deliberately targeting civilians, using disproportionate force, using human shields and taking hostages.
- The International Criminal Court also prosecutes crimes against humanity that includes murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, rape and sexual slavery.
What are the paths to justice?
- Generally, there are four paths to investigate and determine war crimes
- One is through the International Criminal Court.
- A second option would be if the United Nations turns its work on the inquiry commission over to a hybrid international war crimes tribunal to prosecute Putin.
- A third would be to create a tribunal or court to try.
- Finally, some countries have their own laws for prosecuting war crimes. For ex Germany.
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-biden-putin-russia-ukraine-war-who-is-a-war-criminal-7823742/
