“War crimes [des russes en Ukraine] there is no doubt”Jean-Maurice Ripert, vice-president of the French Association for the United Nations and former French ambassador to Russia, said Friday, March 11 on franceinfo. He calls, in a column co-written with the former Defender of Children Claire Brisset, to judge the perpetrators of these war crimes committed against civilians in Ukraine.
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War crimes in Ukraine “are even recognized by the Russian power since we heard Sergei Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, admit that the Russian troops had deliberately chosen to bomb a maternity hospital in Mariupol on the pretext that there were Ukrainian fascist legionnaires inside of the building”argues Jean-Maurice Ripert, adding that “everyone has seen the images on television of children being evacuated on stretchers”.
Russia has violated several international treaties, says Jean-Maurice Ripert, who lists: “The United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Geneva Conventions on the law of war, international humanitarian law…” Russia is a signatory to these texts “which she makes fun of”valued the former French ambassador to Russia between 2013 and 2017. “They absolutely prohibit the targeting of civilians.”
The International Criminal Court can also try Russia for the crime of aggression according to Jean-Maurice Ripert, “meaning the crossing of an international border by a state in a military manner. That’s what happened. It’s not even denied by the Russian government.” The Criminal Court has opened an investigation into this. “I am delighted,” assured Jean-Maurice Ripert, according to whom this investigation will make it possible to “document more precisely the crimes which are committed”.
In 2016, Russia withdrew its signature from the Rome Statute, the founding international treaty of the International Criminal Court. Consequently, the arrest of a Russian personality found guilty by the Court is only possible “only on the territory of one of the 123 States which respect the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court”specifies the vice-president of the French Association for the United Nations. “If Vladimir Putin and a number of other senior leaders who would be judged for their personal responsibility, can no longer travel to 123 countries around the world, that is already a first result”welcomes Jean-Maurice Ripert.