Investigative Committee releases White Book of war crimes in southeastern Ukraine - Markin
MOSCOW. Aug 3 (Interfax) - The Russian Investigative Committee has released the White Book of Crimes about the military conflict in Donbas, which should cause the international community to settle this conflict, Vladimir Markin, an official with the Investigative Committee, said.
"The Russian Investigative Committee has released the White Book of Crimes committed in southeastern Ukraine. It was edited by [Investigative Committee director] Alexander Bastrykin. This book is unique: it uses evidence collected by the Investigative Committee during investigations into crimes involving the use of prohibited war methods," Markin told Interfax on Monday.
Markin said the book contains evidence of participants in the events, photo documents and materials of international organizations that registered evidence of war crimes in southeastern Ukraine.
Markin said the book is aimed at drawing the attention of the international community and international human rights structures to the glaring facts of violence against civilians, primarily against defenseless women and children, and cause the international community to take more active actions to achieve a peaceful settlement of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine
Markin quoted Bastrykin as saying in his introductory word: "The military conflict in southeastern Ukraine unleashed by the political and military administration of this country has caused horrible consequences: whole populated areas have been destroyed, the infrastructure has been destroyed, there are huge civilian casualties and an endless flow of refugees who are forced to leave the war-hit areas."
"The deliberate destruction of the Russian-language population of whole regions, the use against civilians of heavy offensive weapons, the attacks on hospitals, schools and kindergartens cannot be called anything but encroachments on international regulations dealing with the protection of civilians during wars," Bastrykin said in his address.
The punitive cleansing of populated areas, the killings of women and children, the abductions and killings of journalists, and the torture of civilians and POWs "deeply shock every normal person," Bastrykin said.
"The Russian Investigative Committee has no right to ignore these tragic events and considers it its duty to thoroughly register all crimes committed by nationalist battalions and the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and all evidence of human rights violations in Ukraine including the main right, the right to life," Bastrykin said.
Bastrykin recalled that the investigators are promptly opening criminal cases "against war criminals and nationalists."
"These criminal cases are investigated as meticulously as possible to bring those guilty to justice. To do that, the Investigative Committee has created a specialized department for the investigations into the crimes involving the use of prohibited war methods. It works with all the investigative divisions of the Investigative Committee on whose territory refugees arrive," Bastrykin said.
Bastrykin said active investigative actions aimed at determining the specific Ukrainian servicemen, members of the national guard, and the Right Sector, which is recognized as an extremist organization and is prohibited in Russia, pilots, artillery men, snipers 'who issued and implemented orders on the bombing, shelling and killing of citizens in the southeastern regions of the country."
"However, measures envisaged by the criminal legislation are not enough for justice to prevail. People should know the truth about this horrible fratricidal war, which was unleashed by the nationalist Ukrainian regime. That was the reason why the Russian Investigative Committee has prepared the White Book of Crimes, which is based on criminal case materials," Bastrykin said.
"The material contained in the book is an objective analysis of the situation in southeastern Ukraine from the position of human rights observance and the principle of the supremacy of law," Bastrykin said.
