Did You Ever Wonder?
What is a “War Crime”?
By Charles T. DeTulleo, Esquire Law Office of Charles T. DeTulleo
T
he national news has concentrated on the COVID-19 pandemic for over two years. But during the pandemic, and longer, there was the fear of military action that Russia may take against Ukraine. There was a buildup of Russian military forces along the border of Ukraine with political bantering back and forth as to the intention of Russia1. It would not be fair to the reader to go over the promises made by Russia that there would be no overt military action against Ukraine if they surrendered all of their nuclear weapons years ago. But on Thursday, February 24, 2022, Russian military forces entered Ukraine and commenced military attacks on that country and its citizens. At the writing of this article it is April 11, 2022, and Russia has taken active military action against the country of Ukraine. There is a growing number of both Ukrainian military personnel and civilians of that country who have perished. Russia has also sustained a growing number of its military being killed in action. At this time, there has been One estimate is that there were 200,000 soldiers lined up at the borders of Ukraine.
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no Declaration of War by Russia or Ukraine. The conflict continues as of the date of this article. Under international law, a declaration of war traditionally contained three ingredients: an announcement of the intention to take violent action, an explanation why and a proposal of what could prevent it. On Wednesday, March 16, 2022, United States President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. said that Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was a “War Criminal.” On Wednesday, March 23, 2022, President Biden declared that President Putin should be investigated for committing war crimes. Even prior to the statements of President Biden, the news media reported a variety of individuals who suggested that President Putin was a War Criminal and should be prosecuted for his actions. It occurred to me that I knew a little bit about war criminals based on the Nuremberg trials after World War II (WWII). But I also thought that I had not really looked at the mechanism that war crimes tribunals took. In other words, where is the information about war crimes found? Where is the “criminal code” that defines war crimes and how does the court system work that has the jurisdiction of those crimes? For my two best fans, you know that I use Wikipedia as part of my initial research. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/War_crime) for a definition of war crimes: “ A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by
