ICC prosecutor calls Ukraine a 'crime scene' after Bucha visit; urges world to 'wake up'

International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who visited the Kyiv suburb of Bucha where more than 400 bodies were found, called Ukraine "a crime scene". "Ukraine is a crime scene. We’re here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC are being committed. We have to pierce the fog of war to get to the truth," ICC tweeted. However, while speaking to CNN, Khan acknowledged that it would be tough to guarantee justice to those killed in the brutal invasion, given Moscow has withdrawn its signature from the ICC statute. He said that the world needs to apprehend reality. "We can't be gullible about things. We need to be realistic. But as of now, we need to collect the evidence, preserve it, analyze it, and make determinations based on what it shows. And those determinations can be checked by judges," he told CNN. 

He said that the voices of those impacted by alleged crimes must be at the centre of the independent work to establish the truth. "Survivors and the families of victims will be full partners in our collective efforts to deliver justice," he said. He asserted that the investigation of the Russia-Ukraine war must not affect only Ukraine but the whole world. Khan slammed the hypocrisy shown by the world by saying "never again", after the crime but again doing the same thing. "It should put us to shame. We have to choose when we will react based on our shared humanity and I think this is a moment that should wake everybody up," Khan told the American broadcaster.

What happened in Bucha?

Bucha authorities discovered a mass grave of civilians killed by the Russian forces after they left the region situated nearly 60 km from the national capital, Kyiv, in the first week of April. Scribes, who reported the incident, described that the hands of the maximum bodies were tied and the skulls were half-burnt, portraying the cruelty they had faced. This became the turning point as the whole world seems united in condemning the brutality of Putin's forces. 

Is it possible to prosecute Russian President Putin for his brutality in Ukraine?

Speaking to the Associated Press, Philippe Sands, professor at University College, London, said that it is very difficult to prosecute the Russian President and his close allies for war crimes or 'genocide' in Ukraine. According to Sands, it is hard to prove that Putin and his inner circle committed war crimes even though more than 400 bodies were found in Bucha. "There’s a real risk you end up with trials of mid-level people in three years and the main people responsible for this horror – Putin, Lavrov, the minister of defence, the intelligence folks, the military folks and the financiers who are supporting it – will get off the hook," he told AP.

Image: @IntlCrimCourt/Twitter