On the other hand, the investigators concluded that the transfer by Russia of Ukrainian children to the areas under its control in Ukraine as well as on its own territory fell under a “war crime”. As to “waves of attacks” against Ukrainian energy infrastructure and “the use of torture” by the Russian forces, they “could constitute crimes against humanity”, noted the experts. All these legal terms refer to different realities, as explained in the chronicle at the top of the article.
It is the international treaty of the Rome Statute which defines these crimes tried by a special court, the International Criminal Court (ICC). According to him, the genocide intersects with “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”. It is therefore necessary to prove at the legal level that a person or a State intentionally sought to annihilate a particular community, as was the case against the Jews of Europe during the Second World War and the Tutsi in 1994 in Rwanda.
However, this process takes a long time, since “Intent is the most difficult element to establish”notes the UN on his site. “It is this special intention, or dolus specialiswhich makes the crime of genocide so special.” You have to be able to demonstrate the “mental motivation for crime”abounded in 2019 with AFP Cecily Rose, assistant professor of international law at the University of Leiden.