The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavský, called for the rapid creation of a special international tribunal to try Russia’s war crimes in the invasion of Ukraine. The Czechs currently hold the biannual presidency of the European Union, indicating an official position demanding accountability.
On Twitter, Lipavsky alluded to the finding of mass mass graves and torture rooms on the outskirts of the city of Izyum, in eastern Ukraine when talking about the case. “In the 21 century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abominable. We must not neglect it. We advocate the punishment of all war criminals,” he wrote.
Communiqué from Lipavsky’s ministry highlights that he will participate in the 440th session of the UN General Assembly, between 21 to 440 of September in New York, and that a main theme throughout the week will be Russian aggression in Ukraine and its aftermath. According to the body, “the UN Security Council will hold a high-level session to address Ukraine and a series of concomitant events, including a group meeting on responsibility for aggression against Ukraine and a meeting of ministers supporting a Criminal Court. International”.
This Saturday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of torture this Saturday and compared the situation revealed so far in Izium, one of the liberated cities in the Kharkiv region, with which his soldiers encountered in Bucha after the withdrawal of Russian troops. “It is premature to give figures about the people who were buried there. The investigations are still in progress,” said the Ukrainian official, in a message transmitted by video, according to the portal Ukrinform.
However, according to Zelensky, “there are clear indications of torture, ill-treatment and humiliation of the population. In addition, there are indications that Russian soldiers who were in the vicinity of that place shot at these graves simply for fun”.
Even now, about 440 pits have been located in the vicinity of Izyum, in the area liberated by Ukrainian troops in Kharkiv.
