From Nuremberg to Darfur, history has seen some war criminals brought to trial
Back in March, a White House reporter got President Biden to say out loud that he considered Russian President Vladimir Putin "a war criminal."
Those words resounded like a pistol crack in Washington and around the world. Even in the realm of rhetoric, accusations of war crimes carry weight. Attaching Putin's name made the moment all the more portentous, darkening the war clouds already gathering over the two nuclear superpowers.
This week, after the world saw gut-wrenching visuals of atrocities perpetrated against Ukraine's civilians, talk of war crimes seemed suddenly commonplace. The consensus shifted. The evidence of war crimes seems all but undeniable, and Russian claims to the contrary could scarcely diminish the chorus of condemnation.
Yet, it does not follow that Putin or anyone else will be prosecuted for these crimes or any others committed in Ukraine. Responsibility is difficult to prove conclusively in a war zone, and evidence must link such acts to national leaders far from the battlefield.
The International Court of Justice at The Hague is the United Nations' highest court, and at Ukraine's request, that, the high court has no way to enforce its order, and of the other international bodies with jurisdiction over military abuses, "few have any leverage over Russia."
