Nobel Peace Prize CCL Representative: "A Tribunal Must Be Established to Hold Putin Accountable as a War Criminal"

CCL members protesting with representatives of the LGBT community in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 5, 2020 [Image source=Yonhap News]

Oleksandra Matviychuk, head of the Ukrainian civic group Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), which was selected as a co-recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, emphasized the need to establish an international tribunal to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for war crimes.

Matviychuk, a human rights lawyer from Ukraine, said in an interview with the British daily The Guardian on the 26th (local time) that Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and other war criminals must be held responsible, adding, "Justice must be served for those who have endured horrific atrocities."

She argued that "we cannot wait," and unlike the Nuremberg Trials, which were established only after the collapse of the Nazi regime in Germany, the process of creating a tribunal must begin immediately.

Matviychuk stated, "We have received requests for help from people who have suffered abduction, torture, and sexual violence in Russian-occupied territories," emphasizing, "I am convinced that Russia uses war crimes as a means of combat."

She also said, "Russia believes it can do whatever it wants because it is a member of the UN Security Council."

Based in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, CCL has collected and documented over 21,000 cases of war crimes committed by Russian forces since Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

CCL was selected as a co-recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize alongside Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski (60) and the Russian civic group Memorial.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.