dotcom ah, the list is long to lock the accounts of russian soldiers torturing and murdering civilians in ukraine. it's been reported documented and it may 1 day be presented as evidence of war crimes. but what about the here and now the millions and millions of ukrainians. many of them shivering in the dark tonight? no electricity, no heat, all because of russian air strikes. are they also victims of war crops? and do they dear demand justice? i'm broke off in berlin. this is the day. ah, russia must pay for its horrific crime. concluding for its crime of aggression against the sovereign state who has failed to break ukraine with his vicious

invasion with his war crimes and human rights abuses. we all remember the horror of which the commission has, of course, gathered new evidence. it's now being conceited. as of today, we have documented more than 27, thousands of such crimes. russia horrific crimes, will not go unpunished. also coming up the fire and the fury. one week ago in apartment building in china is she, in john region, became an inferno. it took firefighters 3 hours to respond. we've been told the pandemic walked down, was to blame. was it the girl that you see on a person in the house was covert positive? they would lock the door from the outside. when the fire started, the electricity was cut off. so people was stuck because the elevators didn't work on the fire escape was knocked as well. to our viewers watching on

p b. s. in the united states into all of you around the world. welcome, we begin the day on the trail of possible war crimes. in the middle of a war. for weeks, russian air strikes have knocked out more and more of the ukrainian power grid. millions are without electricity running water and heat at the worst possible time . the un now has investigators on the ground to help answer the question. do these russian attacks on infrastructure? do they constitute war crimes? that were crime detectives on the job as the war rages on. it's about to get worse, that there are warnings that a russian aerial assault is being plant which could worsen shortages of water, electricity, and heating across all of ukraine. he w. john phillips schultz visited 2 towns in the countries east over he operated on the injured down here, and he helped women give birth at times. surgeon,

judy quitman. yes of was the only doctor left as easy and was under heavy fire. he was in charge of everything. this is upstairs. patients still arrive and medical staff have reclaimed some of the less them its dreams. but the coming months are worrying another move, good, good. we've got to survive the winter period. now. modern, we've got to somehow maintain our medical care at a higher level during that time or more the new way. unfortunately, we cannot rely on the hospitals, centralized heating system anymore, and that in the zone. but we've started to buy electric heaters. we've got a son norm to do it. at least an is young, the attacks are already weeks old. it's a different story and could pianist around 40 kilometers north, several people who were hurt by artillery fire. the more the we've visited, this is where they would normally go and attack ruined the local police clinic just a few days before the injured have to leave town. the head doctor shows us what is

left office. how can i provide you with for your, for someone who to name wasn't, there's simply no excuse for this other, it looks like they want to destroy the civilian population. there is never been military personnel at the poly clinic, only civilians, no one. maybe we just provided medical treatment to normal people in need of all those movies or the homo workers. lots of in them are only on them. hewing at one of the few 80 and some the town that still works. those normal people see their home being destroyed or wrong them and that the temperatures draw gotten been recorded watches every day. when you leave your home, you see new devastation. and this was such a flourishing city. once i get no room, what's of my village? i to time had a very nice medical center, but it doesn't work anymore, but sometimes doctors visit them, but we don't have any doctors of our in anymore little children. dr. sinclair says he's looking for a place to set up

a temporary clinic. but he says the russians didn't just damage the building, dealtech lute the key for 2 of the people who work in our medical facility have to come under fire 3 times. now, imagine 3 time, frankly, people are frightened over so on the grounds, russian destruction of civilian infrastructure fields increasingly like a strategy for the people living here near the front. it could become and measure of life or death and more threats to ukraine came out in a phone call earlier today between russian president vladimir putin in german chancellor, olaf schultz. according to the kremlin potent told jolts that a tax on ukraine's infrastructure are inevitable. and he accused the west of pursuing destructive policies. d, w political correspond, it has brought, he has more details on that phone call. yes, the call was confirmed at last an hour,

according to the germans and the german chancery says that german shots off, shots told, put in that the attacks on civilian infrastructure in ukraine should stop that germany condemned these and that germany would continue to support ukraine in defending itself against rush and aggression, and including presumably weapons and financial assistance. at the same time, there was an insistence by germany that a diplomatic solution should be aimed for and that that would include russia withdrawing its troops from ukrainian territory. and was hunt brought the report. now back to the question that we posed the start of this program, do rushes attacks on ukraine's critical infrastructure amount to war crimes. a team of un appointed legal experts is in ukraine and collected evidence to present to the un human rights council next march. and it's important to note here that earlier this year, the un concluded that russia had committed war crimes and areas that it had

occupied or today investigators. it said that the massive blackouts resulting from airstrikes that have destroyed much of the power grid. it said that that has been devastating from millions of people. however, tankless international, him money turned or has provisions and to protect as he be lending infrastructure. part of the analysis that we are engaged, dean at present, and that we will continue to engaging in the coming weeks in east where the is a tags a constitute war crimes. their commission has of course, gathered new evidence. it's now being conceded, assist with other kinds of evidence. this is a complicated and thorough process. so that process is ongoing. and we cannot point to particular incidence or conclusive remarks at this stage.

all right, i want to bring you now diana regina. she is an international lawyer from ukraine. she is based in norway. it's good to have you with us this evening. and i want to get back to the issue of how an international court or a tribunal might deal with the alleged war crimes being committed in ukraine. but 1st, and how are the ukranian courts? how are they dealing with this issue? and good evening. it's good to be here tonight around your cranium. courts continue working or even in the war conditions. so despite the ongoing war, craner and courts, most of them are functioning. and they are trying cases, war, crime cases related to incidence. it directly perpetrated by russian soldiers. so we've seen already more than those and convictions on different crimes related to killing of a civilian sexual violence,

pillaging indiscriminate targeting of civilian options. and how we, how is them going, you know, we were expecting chords and judges to remain impartial. but at the same time, they are dealing with people who are accused of attacking the country, the system in which they live. and well, what the cases that the judges are dealing with. they are not concerned with the fact of waging the war for which basically the russian leadership is responsible. they're dealing with specific episodes of war crimes committed on the ground. and in fact, international humanitarian law requires that the state tries this case. this ensures accountability for them, and as regards independence, i think there are also specific standards and international law and in particular, international human rights law that i used to judge whether

a trial east independent or not. i think in general and an abstract notion of independence does not help us to reach any conclusion. ok, i want us to take a listen to something that we heard earlier this week from the european commission president, are so fun to lion take this. russia must pay for its horrific crimes, including for its crime of aggression against the sovereign state. and this is why, while continuing to support international criminal court, we are proposing to set up a specialized court, backed by the united nations to investigate and prosecute rush, us, crime of aggression. that sounds like a good idea to a noble aim, but isn't it doomed from the very beginning because of russia's power of veto at

the united nations security council? well, establishment or a special court to prosecute current progression does not necessarily need approval or decision from secure to cancel. it can be, for example, established on the basis of the agreement by several states, and then supported by united nations general assembly, or it can be established on the basis of agreement between ukraine and an international organization. so establishment of this and separate special court or aggression and does not mr. do require russia's approval that and that's a very good point to make. and we appreciate you doing that. i understand that 14 european union countries, they've already launched investigations of their own in the end. do you think that this is this idea of universal jurisdiction? is this the most likely way that alleged russian war criminals can be punished?

i think the main burden of adjudicating this case is lie under domestic system on the shoulders of ukrainian court. but all the machinations that are available there be its universal jurisdiction, or the international criminal court in the hague. or eventually the special or tribunal on aggression are important as well. so i think based on all parts of the puzzle, i don't see a big role for cases on the basis of universal jurisdiction. because in many countries, this actually is limited by the requirement that the cases can go forward. only if the suspect of the accused is present in the country and is quite unrealistic to imagine that it will happen in many cases. in many cases, particularly in the case of vladimir putin, is he ever going to be brought to justice realistically for what he has done in

ukraine without there being a fundamental change in who's running russia? i think that's a very good question and perhaps we have to adjust our expectations here. and if we have even a special tribunal that can at least issue an arrest warrant or an even have a trial in absentia, provided that this compliance was all the necessary guarantees of due process and can already be a form of justice and victory. before you think it is plausible, if there were to be a complete change of leadership in russia and the new leadership would want to get rid of vladimir putin and in a very orderly way, it could hand him over to the international criminal court. for example, i mean, is that a plausible way to perhaps hope that justice will be served to blood boot?

i think that would be the best outcome in this situation, but it is questionable how unrealistic, that we will see this in our lifetimes. the change of regime in russia towards a more sort of democratic past and the readiness to rec and with the crimes committed by put in and her current rushing regime. diana, the regina, and we appreciate your time and your insights tonight. yeah, let's hope that time is on our side. decided justice. thank you. thank. thank ah, china is easing covered restrictions in some cities and that is a marked shift away from the countries 0 cobra policy. the mandatory testing and

lock downs, aimed to stamp out the virus completely days of rear. nationwide photos appear to have triggered this move. public anger, rub it after a deadly apartment fire in the chin. john province. rumors quickly spread that coven locked downs were to blame for the fire. it said allegation, the authorities deny the w investigative team as more. the fire started on the evening of the 24th of november, november she, the capitalists, in general, province. most of the people living in the building a week is endlessly minority, long pressed by chinese authorities. that night, 10 people died in the blaze. t w's investigative unit analyzed dozens of photos and videos to try to figure out what happened. we'll say, talked to several sources who had had the rel, paternity of hearing from eye witnesses. it's almost impossible to get reliable information from the grand dis,

contacting someone who lives abroad is enough to get you thrown into jail. but for a very brief period of time, relatives abroad were able to contact their loved ones back in the room. she and the other people we talked to. we located the 21 story building in this neighborhood. while we identified 3 vehicle access points, sources told us that at least 2 were blocked, most likely to better monitor their residence every minute. on the night of the fire, those road blocks prevented emergency vehicles from getting closer to the burning building. fire fighters were reduced to trying to operate from the road. as you can see here, the water barely reached the flame. but with that, the only reason why so many people died. shortly after the fire these videos flooded social media, they claim to show doors filled shot by local authorities as part of the country 0 cove. it policy where the residence locked in the building. it's an allegation that

officials refuted at a press conference show to perform the 30th laquon bomber with no doors were locked with wise in this community. load all the doors of all the flats and the front doors were opened. i am jewelry from the pictures of doors sealed with wires posted on the internet. both are malicious forgery and false. b, u r g a more or you can do. but that's not what our source is. say. they tell us that their relative living in the building told them some doors were in fact locked from the outside, were not identifying them for their own safety. her book of the park is not a person in the house, was co repository if they would lock the door from the outside. that's why some of the doors in the house were sealed shut. then when the fire started, the electricity was cut off. so people was stuck on because the elevators didn't work and the fire escape was locked as well. they couldn't get out of their mom while you out of that needle in our investigation suggests people's anger may be

justified. what we found face reasonable doubt on the authorities version of events . and 2 days after the fire room till 30 said they'd listen some restrictions that by this time pray test at already spread to other chinese cities. on my next guest, darren boiler is an expert on china and it's policies in john. his latest book is called terror capitalism, a weaker dis, possession and masculinity. in a chinese city it focuses on the treatment of the muslim minority in the regional capital. you're raunchy, you're in byler is currently assistant professor of international studies at the simon fraser university in canada. professor, it's good to have you on the program. we've all, you know, we've seen the public anger following that tragic apartment building fire. you've been following what happened as well?

do you also agree that the lock downs contributed to the loss of life? it is that what was going on? well, thanks so much for having me. it does appear to be that the, the lockdown contributed to the inability of a fire in firefighters to respond to the, to what was happening. you know, it took almost 3 hours for them to actually get there. i think it had to do with the barricades that prevented access, but also with parked cars that were blocking areas and then locked doors. and all of those things contributed to a lack of response. i was in contact with people who are in the same apartment complex and you know, they were not able to leave their own apartments and had to instead listen to people screaming across across the courtyard in the other building while they're asking for help it's, it's unmanageable. that people would be basically trapped inside their apartments.

as you're describing, we know the people who should jog. they're already among the most controlled and surveilled people in china. we're the coven restrictions beyond what they should have been. i mean, for months of walk down, we're talking about is this another exercise in repression that we've seen happen? it does seem to be a unreasonable amount of lockdown that people were being forced to, to test on a daily basis. not allowed to leave their apartments for very long periods of time, really dependent on the state for food and basic sustenance and, and in some cases prevented from accessing health care because of the covered restrictions for it's a combination of factors, of course, like a lack of of vaccines was implementation of, of ac seen program was also

a factor in why cove it was spreading in the region. but yes it, it certainly seems to be an overreach. and, and that, you know, the, the cost of, of the coven restrictions is borne by the, the most powerless people. you, by the most powerless people. and yet it is exactly there where you find them that we are being told that this, this wave of protests headed genesis and do you think because it came from a province where, where you have the weaker minority? and is that one reason why the entire security apparatus and even she's in pain? apparently we're all called off guard by this that they couldn't imagine this type of public descent would come from a place where wiggers are being controlled. yeah, i think they were surprised by it because the, the security apparatus in since young the weaker region is, is, is one of the most densen and powerful in the world. and it is important to note

that the people that protested that took to the streets in room she were mostly hon . people were from the majority group. and in some ways, where were supportive of the state had been in charge in some cases of, of parts of the, of the control mechanisms of the surveillance apparatus that had been put in place to target the weaker. so it wasn't the leaders themselves that protested it was, it was the hon people. but you know, the home people were standing in solidarity to some extent with their weaker neighbors and saying, you know, this could have been us as well. so, you know, it is surprising, but i think it's because ginger is so politicized that this is why people were the home. people were more willing to take to the streets there. but when we talked about that, the nation wide protests were obviously we're talking about projects being carried out by the majority. hot, correct? and if that's the case, when we hear reports that they're also calling for more political rights, they're,

they're even calling precision bon should being to resign their speaking then for the rights of the majority, aren't they? or are they also saying that the rights of the minorities should also be protected in our state? well, i think there's a mix. so for some protesters it's a single issue that they want the code restrictions to be loosened. but many are, as you say, are also calling for you for she's in pain to step down for a different political system. and when they are opening up to those kinds of possibilities, a sort of critique of the entire political system, then you can, you could make the argument and many are that, that there are also asking for greater rights for the minorities as well. and so i think, you know, we're at a moment now where there's an emergent political consciousness across the entire population of people. it's also important to note that labor rights activists have been instrumental in this to,

in places like one joe where they've been protesting at the fox con factory. and so there's many different constituencies that are coming together in this moment. i'm gonna ask you, do you know so much about china? how do you explain the fact that china has a 0 cove it polish? it is the most restrictive it is the most direct cohen policy related to the pandemic of any place on the planet? do they have it because they can i think to some extent yes, because they can because they have the bureaucratic and surveillance apparatus in place to control people at the grassroots level. and so, you know, it is a unique political system relative to other countries like taiwan or korea where, where they're also trying to manage cove it in really in almost 0 coded manner. there's more to it though than that. one of one of the other factors

here is that the chinese state has refused to accept other vaccines from outside of china. right? so there's a kind of naturalism that's built into the vaccine policy. and that i think is part of why people are so susceptible in china now to cove it, we're well in other countries around the world cove, it, you know, is on the, is diminishing in terms of it's, it's sort of, it's spread and, and it's effects. yeah. that's a very important point to make as well. professor darren, bye the we appreciate your time, your valuable insights tonight is helping us to put all of this in the context. thank you. well, thanks so much for having me. of the day's almost done the conversation. it continues online, you will find us on twitter either at the w news, you can follow me on twitter at brent golf t v. i remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day. it's also the weekend. have

a good one with with eco, india. how can a country's economy grow in harmony with its people and the environment when there are doers who look at the bigger picture? india, a country that faces many challenges and whose people are striving to create

a sustainable future clever projects from europe and india. eco, india. next on d, w. making the headlines and what's behind them. dw news africa. they show that the issues have been the continent. life is slowly getting back to normally where on the street to give you enough reports on the inside of our cars fund that was on the ground reporting from across the continent. all the trends doesn't matter to you. in 60 minutes on d, w. o. oh. they breeze. ah, they have body and soul houses that daniel leaders can

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