Ukraine, Civil Freedom Center: “there is no law that can stop the Russians from exterminating Ukrainians”

It is the sense of helplessness and the will not to give up provoked by a war in which “there is no existing program or legal instrument that can stop the Russians from killing the Ukrainian population” that marks the days of the hundreds of volunteers and jurists of excellence of the Center for Civil Liberties, one of the leading Ukrainian non-governmental organizations. “Since February 24 we have been documenting the human pain felt by our people and by every Ukrainian. We are collecting evidence, testimonies of the victims of the Russian army to get justice. To date we have documented 7 thousand crimes, based on the provisions of articles 6, 7, 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. They are war crimes but also against the human race “, tells the Adnkronos Oleksandra Matviychuk, human rights lawyer and executive director of the Center at the forefront in the defense of human rights since 2007 through a network of other organizations operating also in Russia, Moldova, Poland, Kazakhstan. “Putin’s genocidal intent that we are trying to demonstrate, sitting at a table as jurists – continues Matviychuk – is clear from Putin’s own statements that he intends to make Ukraine disappear, denying its right to exist as a nation. also from the events that occurred in Kiev, Chernihiv or Severodonetsk … the other Mariupols “, because the tactics are always the same:” as in Mariupol it consists in destroying basic infrastructures such as aqueducts and electricity networks, preventing evacuation, medical assistance … in condemning civilians to death, because living conditions make survival impossible and in forcing Kiev to focus on saving its people instead of fighting the Russian army. “” It is the duty of the international community to prevent these barbaric methods witnessed every day by the citizens of the occupied territories “. Women, old people, children victims of the Russians without distinction or escape because “for Moscow there is no difference between civilians and soldiers and there is no legal system that can help us”, she comments. In the short term, the director of the Center looks at sanctions, “with a total oil embargo they could help – she says – But in the long term, looking at Russian impunity over the years and at its acting with violence in other nations and against the dissent of its own the same country requires greater responsibility for Europe because the inactivity of international organizations in recent years has been too great “. Then the appeal: “We live in an interconnected world. Nobody can afford a disconnection from the war. If Putin is not stopped – she concludes – he will go further”. (by Roberta Lanzara)