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From Our Own Correspondent

The Story of a Russian War Crime

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2022

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The small city of Bucha, not far from Kyiv, has experienced some of the worst atrocities of the Russian invasion so far. It's understood that hundreds of civilians have been tortured, raped and murdered by Russian forces. Yogita Limaye has been hearing the story of one woman who experienced this horror first hand. The war in Ukraine has caused particular worry in Finland, which shares a long border - and turbulent history - with Russia. Finland only became independent from Russia in 1917, and, historically, the price of sustaining that independence was neutrality. Joining other European countries in NATO was out of the question - and by and large, most Finns were not interested anyway. But what a difference a few weeks make, as Allan Little found. As far as Singapore’s prosecutors were concerned, he was a drug smuggler, pure and simple. His mother though insisted he was a victim, a man of limited intelligence, who’d been tricked into carrying a small amount of heroin across the border from his home in Malaysia. Whatever the truth, the execution of Nagaenthran Dharmalingam was provided a moment of reflection in Singapore when it comes to the country's tough justice system, reports Suranjana Tewari. Journalism has long been a risky business in The Philippines - nearly a hundred journalists have been murdered there in the past decade. So when one receives a death threat there, they know it’s to be taken seriously. And that’s what happened to Howard Johnson, as the country's presidential election starts to heat up. He has found himself under fire from internet trolls who have taken exception to his attempt to pose the tough questions to election front-runner Bong Bong Marcos - son of the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos. Somalia is a country which has suffered its fair share of problems – and to outsiders, it is seen perhaps as a country savaged by war. And yet, there is a side to Somalia and Somalian people which we never get to see, says Mary Harper. For a start, she says, wherever they settle, one thing you can be sure of is there’ll be a place to get a bit of personal pampering – and with it, the chance to learn more about the reality of Somalian culture.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Good morning. Today amidst all the killing and destruction in Ukraine, we hear the story of

0:06.3

a single death on a woman left widowed. We explore why Finland never joined NATO in the past

0:13.6

and the increased chances that it now will. Our correspondent in the Philippines reveals

0:19.6

how covering the election there earned him repeated death threats. An execution in Singapore

0:26.1

sets our correspondent there thinking about the balance to be struck between public safety

0:31.9

and the law severity. And we take you on a tour of Somalian beauty parlors, where the dress

0:38.8

code is informal and conversation flows freely. First, the numbers coming out of the Ukrainian

0:46.2

conflict are hard to absorb. Is it 10,000 deaths so far? 20,000 or 30? Statistics as

0:55.1

impersonal as their uncertain. Already teams of investigators have been on hand attempting

1:01.6

to document the killings in the hope that future war crimes trials may hold the perpetrators

1:07.5

to account. For now we're left with only a hazy image of the extent to which lives and

1:13.9

indeed whole cities have suffered destruction. Some of the worst atrocities appear to have taken

1:20.3

place in the North Ukrainian city of Buccia. Yoghater Lamaya has been hearing the story of one woman

1:27.7

who experienced this first hand. Irene Abramova was shivering as she spoke but didn't seem to

1:35.0

notice and I see wind was blowing through what used to be her home and the torn metal sheets

1:41.1

that were dangling from the roof looked like they were about to come loose. She stepped back

1:46.8

and gently held my arm, pulling me back too. This was my kitchen she said, pointing towards a room

1:53.6

that had been charred, oily black suit covering its walls and floor. Her living room was a scene of

2:00.3

utter destruction too. The house that Irene shared with her husband Oleg stands at the corner of

2:06.3

Yablungska and Vexalna streets in Buccia. Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Buccia was barely

2:13.1

known outside the country. A small sleepy city, home to people who worked in the capital cave,

2:19.8

now its name is known all over the world as a place where civilians were tortured, raped and

...

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