Russian attacks against civilians in Ukraine, including systematic and widespread torture and killing in occupied regions, amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, according to a report from a UN-backed inquiry released Thursday.
The Associated PressErik Mose, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, speaks on Thursday in Geneva during a news conference to present the report containing its latest findings., released a year to the day after a Russian airstrike on a theatre in Mariupol killed hundreds sheltering inside, marked a highly unusual condemnation of a member of the UN Security Council.
Among potential crimes against humanity, the report cited repeated attacks targeting Ukrainian infrastructure since the fall that left hundreds of thousands without heat and electricity during the coldest months, as well as the "systematic and widespread" use of torture across multiple regions under Russian occupation.
"[The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine] has concluded that Russian authorities have committed numerous violations of international humanitarian law and violations of international human rights law, in addition to a wide range of war crimes, including the war crime of excessive incidental death, injury, or damage, wilful killings, torture, inhuman treatment, unlawful confinement, rape, as well as unlawful transfers and deportations," the report said.
A commission of inquiry is the most powerful tool used by the UN-backed Human Rights Council to scrutinize abuses and violations around the world. The investigation released Thursday was set up during an urgent debate shortly after Russia's invasion last year. The commission's three members are independent human rights experts, and its staff gets support and funding from the council and the UN human rights office.
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