ICC Investigating Wagner Group Over War Crimes In West Africa

ICC Investigating Wagner Group over War Crimes in West Africa West Africa The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been requested to investigate the Russian mercenary Wagner Group over alleged war crimes carried out in West Africa, with legal scholars arguing that sharing graphic images of atrocities they have allegedly committed on social media is a violation of international law, Euronews reported. The request, from legal scholars at the University of California Berkeley, said that Wagner’s presence in the region – in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and the Central African Republic (CAR) – has led to the commission of multiple war crimes: The acts of violence themselves, such as beheadings, dismemberments, and possibly even cannibalism, as well as the sharing of videos and images of them on social media platforms like Telegram and X, according to Africanews. The videos were removed from X for violating the platform’s rules and posted on Telegram behind a paywall. Telegram told the Associated Press the content was “removed whenever discovered” for breaching the platform’s guidelines. The reports center on atrocities committed in Mali and Burkina Faso specifically. The militaries of the two countries distanced themselves from the violent content, saying it exemplified “rare” atrocities. Analysts from UC Berkeley also urged the ICC to investigate the governments of Mali and Russia over alleged abuses in northern and central Mali between December 2021 and July 2024. With the US and France retreating militarily from the region, Russia has filled the void, sending mercenaries who were part of the Wagner Group to fight alongside military governments against jihadist militias in countries including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. The Wagner Group became Africa Corps after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a coup against Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and was killed in a plane crash in 2023. The mercenaries have long been accused of human rights violations. Earlier this year, protests broke out in the CAR because of their acts of violence against civilians. Share this story