Gordon Brown makes a strong case for a special tribunal for Ukraine (We owe it to the people of Ukraine to bring Vladimir Putin to trial for war crimes, 24 February). Yet, as past tribunals have shown, the startup costs can be considerable, and it may be years before Putin’s enablers are indicted, let alone prosecuted – if they ever are. In the meantime, there are more immediate tasks, including enhancing the capacity of Ukrainian war crimes investigators on the ground.
Unlike the situation in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda, Russian forces in Ukraine have quickly destroyed evidence of crimes that could lead to prosecutions. Not only have they exhumed and reburied bodies, but they have deployed mobile crematoria to destroy the physical remains of their victims. We have satellite and photographic imagery of these crimes, as well as mobile phone data, which should be released in full to the Ukrainian government now.
