The new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Austria's Volker Türk, granted a wide-ranging interview to FRANCE 24 from Geneva. This week, the High Commissioner travelled to Ukraine to observe first-hand the consequences of Russia's invasion on the Ukrainian people. During his visit, Türk had to take cover in an underground shelter in Kyiv as Russian missiles hit civilian targets. Speaking to FRANCE 24, he condemned what he called "war crimes" in Ukraine: "The picture that emerges is [one of] torture, summary executions, disappearances, wilful killings of civilians and that's very, very tragic and shocking."
Turning to the situation in Iran, where the authorities have carried out the first execution of a protester following months of peaceful anti-regime demonstrations, with others likely to follow, Türk said: "I hope that reason will come back to the authorities and [that] they will actually impose a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty."
