The ITUC has all the mechanisms to punish Russia for the undermining of the Kakhovka HPP – Truth Hounds

International criminal law has all the mechanisms to punish Russia for violating the laws and customs of war. Ukraine has recognized the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in two declarations, and therefore the Court can investigate all violations of the Rome Statute that occurred on the territory of Ukraine.

This was stated by Mykola Yurlov, Senior Legal Advisor at Truth Hounds, during the International Forum of the Crimean Platform Expert Network “Vision of the Future: Expert View”.

“Article 56 of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions provides for punishment for such a war crime as, for example, the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. This facility was located in the occupied territory. And the occupiers bear full responsibility. This is yet another violation of the laws and customs of warfare,” he added.

Mykola Yurlov noted that there have been similar precedents in the history of world wars with dam blowing up. However, the norm prohibiting their undermining appeared only in 1977, i.e. after such cases. This means that the Kremlin will not be able to play its favorite card that Western countries allowed themselves to do this.

The lawyer emphasized that an important aspect of the inevitability of punishment is the awareness of the consequences. The Ukrainian side has a lot of evidence when Russian politicians directly talked about the danger of their actions: “And a week before the crash, the Russian government passed a resolution prohibiting investigations in the occupied territories, which is another proof of their crime.”