Thread by @astroehlein

100 days of Russia's renewed invasion of #Ukraine.

100 days of war crimes by Russian forces, including…

⚠️ bombing civilians;

⚠️ summary executions;

⚠️ enforced disappearances;

⚠️ arbitrary detentions;

⚠️ sexual violence;

⚠️ torture.

🧵

First, the indiscriminate bombing...

Since 24 February, Russian forces have battered Ukrainian towns and cities with airstrikes and artillery, killing and injuring thousands of civilians.

Russian forces have conducted indiscriminate attacks that have hit residential buildings as well as schools and hospitals across Ukraine, leaving a trail of death and destruction.

These are war crimes.

It's not only intentional bombing of civilians that's banned.

The laws of war also prohibit indiscriminate attacks - that is, attacks that strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

Examples of indiscriminate attacks are those that are not directed at a specific military objective or that use weapons that cannot be directed at a specific military objective.

Russia's use of banned cluster munitions and high explosives in built-up areas are war crimes.

Human Rights Watch has documented Russia's use of banned cluster munitions in several locations, including…

Mykolaiv: hrw.org/news/2022/03/1…

Kharkiv: hrw.org/news/2022/03/0…

Vuhledar: hrw.org/news/2022/02/2…

We've also highlighted our concerns about Russia's "enhanced blast weapons", which are more powerful than conventional high-explosive munitions. The terms “thermobaric,” “fuel-air explosive” & “vacuum bomb” are all used to describe this class of weapons.
hrw.org/news/2022/03/0…

Enhanced blast weapons are more likely to kill and injure people in buildings & basements, and because they cover a wide area, they are prone to indiscriminate use - ie, a war crime.

100 days in, there are too many examples of Russia's indiscriminate bombing of civilians in #Ukraine to count, but perhaps one stands out: the attack on the #Mariupol theater...

Satellite photos taken just before the attack in March showed the word "children" in Russian written twice in large Cyrillic script in front and behind the theater in Mariupol.

Russia bombed it anyway, killing hundreds.

Our analysis at the time here: hrw.org/news/2022/03/1…

An investigation by @AP last month provided evidence to show that some 600 people were killed in Russia's airstrike on the #Mariupol theater...

"the single deadliest known attack against civilians to date"

apnews.com/article/Russia…

The individual stories from the hundreds of thousands of people trapped in "hell on Earth" Mariupol have been leaking out as people managed to escape...

https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/1519717271412879360

Over the past 100 days, Human Rights Watch & other investigators have documented war crimes in areas under Russian occupation in #Ukraine, including:

➡️ rape,

➡️ murder,

➡️ other atrocities.

#Bucha shocked the world, but it was just the tip of a very bloody iceberg.

“Nearly every corner in #Bucha is now a crime scene, and it felt like death was everywhere,” said Richard Weir, our researcher on the ground.

Russian forces committed a litany of war crimes during their occupation of #Bucha, #Ukraine.

Read more here: hrw.org/news/2022/04/2…

Human Rights Watch documented similar atrocities by occupying Russian forces in other parts of #Ukraine...

hrw.org/news/2022/05/1…

The cases we documented amount to unspeakable, deliberate cruelty and violence against Ukrainian civilians: hrw.org/news/2022/04/0…

Human Rights Watch has also documented how Russian forces fired on #Ukraine civilians attempting to flee...

In Kyiv & Chernihiv regions: hrw.org/news/2022/05/0…

The infamous incident at Irpin: hrw.org/news/2022/03/0…

We have been pushing for justice in #Ukraine since 24 February - and actually for all 8 years of this conflict, since Russia's initial invasion & occupation in 2014:

https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/1496738107768688643

In the past 100 days, we've seen huge international support for justice mechanisms to address these crimes: in #Ukraine itself, at the national level in other countries aiming to use "universal jurisdiction", and at the ICC.

hrw.org/news/2022/04/2…

One question I get asked probably more than any other is:

Can Putin himself be tried for war crimes?

Answer: yes.

It's not just about who pulls the trigger or gives the direct order to pull the trigger...

Of course, if you can show Putin ordered war crimes, then it's easy, but that's not the only way.

Prosecutors need only prove that Putin (and/or other Kremlin officials) knew or should have known of such crimes by troops under their command, and failed to stop them.

Both would seem fairly easy to demonstrate.

The next question I get is basically this:

Even if the ICC were to charge Putin for war crimes committed in Ukraine, would that make a difference? He feels secure in the Kremlin & likely thinks he's untouchable by justice.

All I can say to that is: things change...

Putin is betting on remaining president-for-life, but that's a difficult position for any aging war criminal to maintain.

Indeed, others have not managed it successfully.

Recall former presidents Milošević of Serbia, al-Bashir of Sudan, Habré of Chad & Taylor of Liberia.

Sure, Putin and his henchmen will probably not appear in The Hague in the next 100 days.

All we can do now is document Russia's crimes, and make sure authorities are securing the evidence and fostering cooperation between the various agencies, national and international.

No one expected justice to reach the top war criminals in the first 100 days of this renewed conflict in #Ukraine.

No one expects it in the next 100 days either.

But it will come one day.

We must all work towards that.