Can Vladimir Putin be tried for war crimes?

A growing number of civilian victims in Ukraine have pressed charges that Moscow has committed war crimes in the ruthless shelling of nonmilitary targets in cities, as well as the supposed use of weapons that increase the risk of killing and hurting civilians.

In pursuit of evidence, the Ukrainian government has opened a new front in the conflict, sending visual teams to the countries bombed to raise an anti-Russian case at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, writes Euronews, broadcast Clankosova.tv.

Last month, the International Criminal Court prosecutor announced the opening of an investigation into possible war crimes unfolding in Ukraine a move welcomed by EU heads of state and government during their summit in Versailles on Friday.

The definition of war crimes and their confirmation

War crimes, according to international law, include targeting civilians, as well as attacks causing non-professional civilian victims in view of military targets. These include attacks on hospitals, clinics, schools, historical monuments, and other major civilian sites, as well as attacks or bombing of cities, villages, or dwellings that are vulnerable and are not military targets.

However, many terrible acts of violence resulting in the death of civilians would not meet the criteria. And in most cases, proving that killing civilians is a very difficult crime.

“A standard for condemnation at an International Criminal Court is extremely high,” told Euronews Marty Flaks, director of the Human Rights Initiative at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

The expectation of prosecuting someone for war crimes and crimes against humanity is to be able to demonstrate individual responsibilities and be able to demonstrate that they are leading or responsible for a policy of committing these crimes. And this can be very difficult, especially if you don't have the cooperation of the state that this person comes from, which we certainly wouldn't have in the case of Russia”

To sue someone, the ICC prosecutor must prove alleged crimes are cruel crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. The prosecutor determines gravity by seeing the scale, nature, way and impact of alleged crimes.

The ICC judges individuals. You don't try countries. For example, in the current conflict, Russia would not be a defendant, but Vladimir Putin could be a defendant.

The arrest warrant for Putin?

Once sufficient evidence is found to create reasonable grounds that cruel crimes have been committed, the prosecutor may demand that a JNP chamber issue an arrest warrant for Putin ú, but raising an issue under current circumstances may be complicated.

Of course, any prosecution requires a series of steps, including collecting physical evidence, interviewing and gathering witness testimony, collecting contextal information and documentation explaining the circumstances where the crimes were committed. And trying to do this in the context of an ongoing active fight makes it difficult to do that”, Flacks said.

If the JNA issued an arrest warrant against Putin, its ability to travel would be severely limited. “If Putin or someone in his leadership were required by the JGPN, all 123 members of the Rome International Criminal Court's Statut would be obliged to hand over the JPN”, Flacks explained.

Practically, in order for Putin and the other senior leadership to face any kind of accusation, there would have to be a change of regime in Russia ʹthe idea that Putin would be arrested by his government is simply not imaginable.

Time needed to prosecute a head of state

If there were charges, and if Putin remains head of state, it becomes very complicated, as was the case with other heads of state who have been indicted, and then have not been brought before JNP for years, because they take measures to avoid physical presence before the court. This is important, since the ICC does not judge individuals in absentia.

Whether Putin and other top military and political officials will ever be charged, it will likely take years to reach a decision.

The JNP's criminal senses can take a long time. The issue that JNP began investigating Ukraine's Russian invasion in 2014 is still under way”, Flacks stressed. And we know that the prosecutions that started in the early days of the JNP in the early 2000s, in some cases still continue today. ”

Ukraine is also following another path to keep Russia responsible for the crime of aggression through the International Court of Justice, which has scheduled public hearings. This UN court deals with disputes between countries, and thus would not result in any criminal charges against individual Putin.