By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

MOSCOW, Russia —

Russian lawmaker Andrei Klimov said on Thursday that he would propose the establishment of international tribunal on United States war crimes in Vietnam to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA). Mr. Klimov is the deputy head of the International Affairs Committee of Russia’s Federation Council.

Mr. Klimov announced his proposal during an interview with Govorit Moskva radio, a radio station in Moscow. The interview was focused on the anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945. While Mr. Klimov approved of an international tribunal on the bombings, he stated that he thought the United States’ actions against Vietnam should receive equal attention from international lawyers. He also stated that the war between the United States and Vietnam was illegal and that the United States’ military involvement in Vietnam was an obvious aggression.

During the Vietnam War, lasting from 1964 through 1975, around 3 million Vietnamese were killed, along with citizens of bordering countries. The Crimes of War Education Project has reported that there were over 300 war crimes committed by U.S. military during the Vietnam War, including murder, rape, torture, corpse mutilation, and random gun-fire in civilian areas. Mr. Klimov believes that it is necessary to bring the perpetrators of those war crimes to justice.

Mr. Klimov’s proposal came shortly after Sergey Naryshkin, chairman of the Russian State Duma, stated that an international court must look into the United States’ atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Mr. Naryshkin spoke at a meeting at the Moscow Institute of International Relations on August 5th. During the meeting, he stated that the atomic bombings were not a necessary part of the United States’ military action against Japan. The bombings caused the deaths of around 150,000 to 250,000 Japanese civilians.

Mr. Klimov also intends to discuss the possibility of the international tribunal on U.S. war crimes in Vietnam at assembly sessions of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to which Vietnam is a party, in September.

 

For more information, please see:

Meduza – After Vetoing MH17 Tribunal, Russia Proposes Tribunals for Vietnam War and Atomic Bombings of Japan – 6 August 2015

RT – Russian Senator Urges International Tribunal into U.S.-Vietnam War – 6 August 2015

Sputnik International – Moscow to Discuss Creating Tribunal on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam at OSCE PA – 6 August 2015

RT – Int’l Tribunal Should Try 1945 U.S. Nuke Attacks on Japan – Duma Chief – 5 August 2015