Vladimir Putin chairing a security council meeting via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Thursday.Vladimir Putin chairing a security council meeting via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Thursday.Last modified on Sun 10 Apr 2022 11.42 BSTat the International Criminal Court appears to be straightforward.
For this, video of shattered Russian tanks and abandoned camps will be scrutinised to see which formations were at the scene of the crime. Tiny details can be important, such as graffiti left by a retreating unit, information from abandoned laptops or regimental flashes on discarded uniforms. War crimes evidence works like a mosaic. Prosecutors combine forensics with witness accounts, video and intelligence to produce a complete picture of the crimes and who committed them.
War law gives no immunity to presidents, as Milošević and Taylor found out. Nor is responsibility diluted the further up the command chain you go. If anything, the supreme commander is the most responsible, because he has the most power. Less clear is whether anyone will be charged with genocide. Rightly called the crime of crimes, genocide requires evidence of intent, which is a procedural labyrinth prosecutors may for now avoid.