This was stated by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk in his speech at the conference “In Search of Justice for Ukraine”, which took place within the framework of the Conference of the Presidents of the Parliaments of the EU Member States, which is currently taking place in Prague.
The event was also attended by the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic Milos Vystrcil and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic Marketa Pekarova Adamova.
In his speech, the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament noted that the cynical russian aggression taking place in Ukraine today is the most brutal aggression since 1945 and even surpasses it in terms of crimes against humanity.
“Deliberate attacks on civilians, the use of people as human hostages, executions and sexual violence, abductions – this is the reality that Ukraine is facing today. And all this is the result of a cynical, planned and systematic policy pursued by the top military and political leadership of russia,” stressed Ruslan Stefanchuk.
He also voiced the horrific figures of russian crimes in Ukraine, which russia must bear full legal international responsibility for.
“The number of crimes committed by the russian federation is simply shocking. It shocks not only Ukraine. The whole world is shocked. 9,883 civilians were killed, including 464 children; 13,254 civilians were wounded, including 937 children; 66,395 residential buildings, 2,367 educational institutions, thousands of medical, cultural and religious buildings were destroyed.
These are not just numbers. Behind each of them is a huge human tragedy, human pain and human loss. And these are only the established crimes which proceedings have been initiated for. We do not yet know all the horrors in the temporarily occupied territories,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk.
“Ukraine will use all international opportunities to bring russia to justice: The International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Human Rights Court, international arbitrations on the law of the sea, etc. Now is the time to respond to russia’s impunity, aggression and savagery and to counter it with civilised principles of the rule of law,” the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament called on his European colleagues.
He also expressed his deep conviction that it is the common duty of all civilised countries to solve all these crimes together and bring everyone responsible to justice.
“It is the crime of aggression that was and is the root cause of all these atrocities. The inevitability of legal responsibility is a safeguard to prevent such crimes from happening again in the future. Our common task is to investigate the crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice. This is the only way we can talk about a just and successful Europe where the rule of law and human rights prevail,” Ruslan Stefanchuk stressed.
The Chairman of the Senate of the Czech Parliament, Milos Vystrcil, supported his Ukrainian colleague in saying that the European community should stand together to defend the core values of democracy, respect for people and the laws of international law.
“We hope for the investigation and fair punishment of criminals and condemnation of russia’s terrorist actions. International institutions and tribunals should work to punish terrible war crimes. The criminals must be punished in the name of justice and for the sake of the future of European civilisation,” Milos Vystrcil stressed.
For her part, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, stressed that she was shocked by the figures on the crimes of the russian invaders in Ukraine. According to her, this requires an appropriate response from European and global society for the sake of rules that protect human rights and ensure equal treatment of everyone.
“These terrible figures show that Ukraine needs justice today. That is why we supported the proposal to establish a special tribunal to investigate and convict those responsible for human rights violations and war crimes.
The lawlessness we are trying to condemn is so harmful and destructive that civilisation cannot tolerate it. We must ensure that justice prevails. We have to help Ukraine win the war and restore justice for the sake of our common future,” the President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic called.