What is a War Crime by objective legal defintions

[Halbhh]

war crime, Any violation of the laws of war, as laid down by international customary law and certain international treaties. At the end of World War II, the part of the London Agreement signed by the U.S., Britain, the Soviet Union, and France established three categories of war crime:

• conventional war crimes (including murder, ill treatment, or deportation of the civilian population of occupied territories),
• crimes against peace
• crimes against humanity (political, racial, or religious persecution against any civilian population).

The charter also provided for an international military tribunal to try major Axis war criminals. It further stated that a defendant’s position as head of state would not free him from accountability, nor would having acted on orders or out of military necessity. German and Japanese war criminals were tried before Allied tribunals in Nürnberg and Tokyo in 1945–46 and 1946–48, respectively, and in the 1990s tribunals were created for the prosecution of war crimes committed in Rwanda and the territory of the former Yugoslavia. See also Geneva Convention; genocide; Hague Convention; Nürnberg trial.
--https://www.britannica.com/summary/war-crime

Further:

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court has an extensive list of war crimes and is based on the Geneva Conventions and customary laws, Reinsberg said.

The statute defines war crimes as "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions, "namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:

i. Willful killing

ii. Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;

iii. Willfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;

iv. Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;

v. Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;

vi. Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;

vii. Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement;

viii. Taking of hostages."

--https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/03/01/war-crimes-possible-punishment-if-found-guilty/6971469001/

I bolded a couple of which we have extensive reports. The first is obvious: every city Russia has gotten forces near enough to has been shelled indiscriminately, regardless of large civilian populations of women and their young children, resulting in thousands of deaths of civilians.
The 2nd: the removal of citizens of Mariupol against their will into Russia:

Ukraine has accused Russia of forcibly relocating thousands of civilians from Mariupol, the strategic port city devastated by Russian shelling.

Russia is housing an estimated 5,000 at a temporary camp in Bezimenne, east of Mariupol, seen in satellite images.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 40,000 had been moved from Ukraine to Russian-held territory without any coordination with Kyiv.

A Mariupol refugee, now in Russia, said: "All of us were taken forcibly".

Some Ukrainian officials describe Russia's actions as "deportations" to "filtration camps" - an echo of Russia's war in Chechnya, when thousands of Chechens were brutally interrogated in makeshift camps and many disappeared.
Russia transfers thousands of Mariupol civilians to its territory

 

[Halbhh]

Will the crimes be prosecuted? --

"...He cited attacks on the civilian population in the besieged city of Mariupol and elsewhere.

Neither Russia nor the U.S. recognizes the authority of the International Criminal Court at The Hague, presenting obvious difficulties for seeking accountability for war crimes committed in Ukraine.

The U.S. could still assist a prosecution before the court, which earlier opened an investigation into atrocities committed in Ukraine, by helping to gather evidence against Russian forces in Ukraine, using some of the vast abilities it has deployed to track and monitor what has been happening in the conflict.

The U.S. could also provide support and backing to a commission of inquiry established by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

War crimes experts have suggested that Russian forces and government officials could also be prosecuted in countries such as Spain and Germany, where legal codes recognize universal jurisdiction, or that the U.S. could bring criminal charges."
--https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-europe-antony-blinken-nato-fa0786b41cd876208771017aa1abab13

 

[Halbhh]

Also, just a few hours ago, Reuters reports:

GENEVA, March 30 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday named three human rights experts to conduct an investigation into possible war crimes and other violations committed during the conflict in Ukraine.

 

[Halbhh]

She said U.N. human rights monitors in Ukraine had documented the summary execution of 50 civilians in Bucha, a few miles west of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Monitors are investigating allegations involving the killings of more than 300 civilians in other areas that had been controlled by Russian forces, and also 75 cases of sexual violence, Ms. Shamdasani added.

Live Updates: Russia Pounds Ukrainian Towns Along Eastern Front as Commander Signals Broader Aims

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Be careful how these events are reported.

I'm not saying they didn't take place, but we won't know the truth until after the war ends, if
we're able to learn the truth.

Back during the war in Kosovo, it was reported that the Serbs were committing genocide.
A mass grave was uncovered and shown to the press.

After the Serbs left Kosovo, the US FBI forensic team went and investigate the mass graves
and other atrocities. What they found was that the bodies in the mass graves were mostly
Serb Soldiers who had their uniforms stripped off and civilian clothes put on them. The MSM
ignored this and a few like Don Fedder reported on it.

 

[dms1972]

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