- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
- Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control
- Postecoglou defends Solanke after slow start to Spurs career
- US nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft
- Arteta urges Arsenal to take next step in Man City showdown
- Stock markets fall after Fed-fuelled rally
- Poland charges Russian over attack on Navalny ally: prosecutors
- Man City have rest 'advantage' in Arsenal showdown: Guardiola
- Maresca has 'no doubt' in Jackson as Chelsea's number nine
- EU chief announces 35 bn euro loan plan for Ukraine before winter
- From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame
- Verstappen punished for swearing in Singapore press conference
- Sri Lanka lead by 202 in first New Zealand Test
- Brook 'not too fussed' by England's batting in heavy Australia loss
- India's Ashwin 'happy' to embrace pressure
- A modern 'Trojan Horse': two days of mayhem in Lebanon
- Third of Burundi mpox cases in children under five: UN
- Man Utd appoint Foster + Partners to develop Old Trafford 'masterplan'
- French mayor sorry for 'no one died' remark over mass rape trial
- Mohamed Al-Fayed, outsider shunned by British high society
- Lawyers say 'monster' late Harrods owner abused dozens of women
- India in box seat after Bumrah takes four against Bangladesh
- Taiwan retains death penalty but limits use to 'exceptional' cases
- Ferrari's Leclerc sets early pace in Singapore ahead of Norris
- 10 years into Huthi rule, some Yemenis count the cost
- France poised to finally get new govt
- Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson doubtful for Bournemouth clash
- Bayern's Kompany calls for game cap for players amid strike talks
- Christie's expands Hong Kong footprint in hope of art market 'pickup'
- Sultry screen legend Sophia Loren turns 90
- Cambodian opposition figure in court on incitement charge
- Kimchi threat as heatwave drives up South Korea cabbage prices
- UK economic data delivers fresh blow to new govt
- China to 'gradually resume' seafood imports from Japan after Fukushima ban
- India minister blames dam release for flooding
- O'Rourke strikes early for Kiwis as Sri Lanka trail by three
- Israel pounds Lebanon's Hezbollah after device blasts
- Revolution or mirage? Controversy surrounds new Alzheimer's drugs
- Ashwin's 113 powers India to 376 in Bangladesh Test
- Biden opens home to 'Quad' leaders for farewell summit
- Sally Rooney returns with 30-something questions
- Wallabies sense 'massive' chance to upset All Blacks
- Taiwan questions two in probe into Hezbollah pagers
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.14% | 6.96 | $ | |
CMSC | 0% | 25.12 | $ | |
AZN | -0.82% | 78.255 | $ | |
GSK | -1.43% | 41.035 | $ | |
NGG | 0.96% | 69.5 | $ | |
SCS | -2.03% | 13.045 | $ | |
BTI | -0.47% | 37.395 | $ | |
BCE | -0.77% | 34.92 | $ | |
BCC | -0.87% | 143.44 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.08% | 25.03 | $ | |
VOD | -0.35% | 10.025 | $ | |
RELX | -0.11% | 48.075 | $ | |
BP | -0.44% | 32.616 | $ | |
JRI | -0.74% | 13.301 | $ | |
RIO | -2.08% | 63.85 | $ |
Ukraine's Nobel laureate wants Putin brought to justice
The co-winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, Ukraine's Oleksandra Matviichuk, called on Friday for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be brought before an international tribunal.
Speaking to reporters in Oslo on the eve of the Nobel prize award ceremony, the human rights lawyer said she was confident Putin would be tried "sooner or later".
"For decades, (the) Russian military committed war crimes in many countries of the world, and they have never been punished", she said.
"Now, we must break the circle of impunity. We must establish an international tribunal and hold Putin, (Belarus President Alexander) Lukashenko and other war criminals accountable, not only for Ukrainians but for the other nations in the world", she said.
Founded in 2007, the Kyiv-based Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) headed by Matviichuk documents war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine.
"This war has a genocidal character," she said in English. "If Ukraine stops its resistance, there will be no more of us."
"So I have no doubt that sooner or later Putin will appear before an international court."
The CCL was in October awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with jailed Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski and the Russian human rights organisation Memorial, which Russia's Supreme Court has ordered dissolved.
The trio were honoured for their struggle for "human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the neighbour countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine", the Nobel committee said at the time.
They represent the three nations at the centre of the war in Ukraine, which has plunged Europe into its worst security crisis since World War II.
- Putin will stop 'when stopped' -
Seemingly ruling out negotiations, Matviichuk again urged the West to help Ukraine free its territory occupied by Russia, including Crimea.
"Putin will stop when he will be stopped", she stressed.
"Authoritarian leaders ... see any attempt to dialogue as a sign of weakness".
At her side, the chairman of the board of Memorial, Yan Rachinsky, also called for war crimes to be rapidly tried in court -- without specifically referring to those committed in Ukraine.
But he said the International Criminal Court in The Hague was best suited, rather than an ad hoc tribunal preferred by Matviichuk.
"This punishment should come straight away, without any delay, because we have seen a lot of examples when criminals were left unpunished and died safely in their own beds", Rachinsky said.
The existing legal basis is sufficient in order to bring to justice not only "the rank and file perpetrators because they execute orders, but also the masterminds," he said.
The third Nobel laureate, Ales Bialiatski, founder of rights group Viasna, has been detained since July 2020 pending trial following Minsk's crackdown on large-scale protests against the regime.
He faces 12 years in prison.
His wife Natalia Pinchuk, who will accept his Nobel prize on his behalf, said "the issue of Belarus is also being decided on the battlefield of Ukraine".
H.Silva--PC