Britain on Monday backed considering a Nuremberg-style trial to try “war criminal” Vladimir Putin in his absence for atrocities committed in Ukraine.
Cabinet minister Sajid Javid said the proposal should be looked at as the world reels in increasing horror at the appalling acts of “mass murder” being carried out by the Russian president’s troops in Ukraine.
As schools, hospitals and care homes are being hit by increasing Russian attacks, and reports of forced deportations, Mr Javid told LBC Radio: “I’m appalled by the atrocities that are unfolding in Ukraine and the despicable attacks that we are seeing on civilians.
“As far as I’m concerned, these are the acts of a war criminal.”
Former Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and Sir John Major are among a growing number of people calling for a new international tribunal to bring to justice Mr Putin and other Russian political and military leaders who commit war crimes in Ukraine.
A website has been set up aiming to get two million signatures for the campaign for a Nuremberg-style trial which could try people in absentia given that Mr Putin is extremely unlikely to be extradited from Russia.
Pressed on the proposal, Health Secretary Mr Javid told Sky News: “All of that should be looked at.
“It’s right that Gordon Brown and others, many people are thinking what ways and mechanisms can the international community use to hold Russia to account.”
Martin Bormann, who was Nazi Party Secretary, was tried in his absence at the Nuremberg trials in 1945-46.
More and more footage and reports are emerging of the appalling plight of hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, with food supplies, electricity and water cut off.
More than 1,000 civilians, including children, are feared to still be trapped under a theatre which was hit by a huge bomb, as well as 400 in a school which was attacked.
Attempts to rescue the people in the basement of the theatre have been thwarted by ongoing Russian shelling.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky also denounced the bombing of the school in Mariupol.
Speaking in a video address early Monday, he said about 400 civilians were taking shelter at the art school in the besieged Azov Sea port city when it was struck by a Russian bomb.
“They are under the rubble, and we don’t know how many of them have survived,” he said.
“But we know that we will certainly shoot down the pilot who dropped that bomb, like about 100 other such mass murderers whom we already have downed.”
Early on Monday, the US Embassy in Kyiv tweeted: “As heroic rescuers worked to rescue children and others following the horrific bombing of the Mariupol theatre, forces attacked a designated shelter at an art school there with 400 inside. The killing must stop, read the 4th Geneva Convention.”
As heroic rescuers worked to rescue children and others following the horrific bombing of the Mariupol theater, 🇷🇺 forces attacked a designated shelter at an art school there with 400 inside. The killing must stop. 🇷🇺, read the 4th Geneva Convention - https://t.co/B95gcFo9VO
— U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) March 21, 2022
Mr Javid stressed: “I’m appalled by the scenes coming out of Ukraine right now, the despicable acts on civilians.
“When I was last on your studio, that was the day we saw the picture of the pregnant woman, (from the maternity hospital), who had been murdered by the Russians, now we are seeing children being pulled out of rubble.
“Russia and president Putin will absolutely be held accountable for this.
“There’s an International Criminal Court that will work on this. They are already compiling evidence.”
He added that Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab was in The Hague last week offering the UK’s “full support to hold Russia to account”.
He also said the idea of a Nuremberg-style trial should be considered.
