What are the rules of war, and how are they enforced?

Russian army Sergeant Vadim Shyshimarin, 21, was sentenced to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian who was gunned down while riding a bicycle in February — four days after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

This is the first war crimes trial since the start of the war on Ukraine.

But what are the rules of a war crime and how are they enforced? Not easy questions to answer in the upheaval of war.  

IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed speaks with three experts to discuss the brutalities committed by Russian troops against the civilian Ukrainian population and the question of what legal recourse is possible: namely, what crimes individual soldiers can be charged with, what the Russian state might be charged with, and very specifically what Vladimir Putin himself can be held accountable for. 

"Article 2 (4) of the U.N. Charter says that nations shall be free of force and threats of use of force against their sovereignty — and to blatantly cross borders and invade is aggression for that purpose," Harold Koh, a professor of international law, told Ayed.

"What's interesting about Nuremberg is that it tried both Nazi leaders for committing what they called the ultimate crime of aggression, but also for committing war crimes while pursuing that aggression. But there's an important difference. They were all defeated and in custody, whereas at the moment, Vladimir Putin has 180,000 troops and nuclear weapons. So it's quite a different posture."

Listen to the panel discussion with host Nahlah Ayed by clicking the play button above.

Guests in this episode:

Payam Akhavan is a human rights prosecutor based at the University of Toronto.

Harold Koh is a professor of international law at Yale Law School.

Silvia Fernandez is a judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
 

*This episode was produced by Philip Coulter.