Experts say that videos depicting war crimes in Mali are also war crimes

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

June 26, 2025

HRRC calls on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the spread of images and videos of war crimes on social media and the internet, and hold those to account who intentionally spread such content with the intent to cause fear and distress.

[Image source: The Moscow Times]

A confidential brief by experts at University of California Berkeley to the International Criminal Court argues that content depicting war crimes spread on social media and messaging apps like Telegram could constitute war crimes themselves, according to a report by the Associated Press (AP). 

The brief cited examples of videos depicting war crimes believed to be carried out by Russian mercenaries in Mali working for the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company that has been accused of widespread human rights violations in the African region of the Sahel. 

Videos spread on social media and private messaging apps include depictions of mutilation and desecration of dead bodies and even suggestions of cannibalism, often accompanied by mocking language of the deceased. 

The effect has been to create a state of terror in the Fulani community, a nomadic ethnic group that has been caught between the jihadist and the Malian government and subjected to abuses and killings, according to the AP report. Members of the ethnic group have previously been singled out for execution by the Malian army, for example.  

Experts argued that the videos being intentionally spread by Wagner mercenaries represents a “weaponization” of social media and are “inextricably linked to the physical crimes and add a new dimension of harm to an extended group of victims.” They argue that the Rome Statute, which created the ICC and states “committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment” to be a war crime, to be grounds for these videos to be considered war crimes as well. 

For years, the Sahel region has been locked in conflict between state governments and jihadist groups, and several governments have been overthrown in coups which installed Russia-friendly leaders, including in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. The new leaders have subsequently invited Russian mercenaries into the country under the banner of the Wagner Group and – more recently – Russia’s new private military company, the Africa Corps.

The introduction of Wagner fighters has coincided with reports of war crimes and human rights abuses carried out by the Russian mercenaries. In Mali, for example, Russian Wagner mercenaries have been accused of systematic killings of civilians, as well as torture, rape, and sexual violence. In the Central African Republic, Russian-speaking men believed to be Wagner soldiers were reported to have beaten and executed 13 unarmed civilians, and have also been accused of widespread use of torture. 

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Glossary 

• Brief – a written document that presents a legal argument. 

• Confidential - private and meant to be read only by specific individuals.

• Coup – overthrowing a government, usually by military means.

• Degrading – meant to humiliate or erase the self-respect of a person.

• Desecration – defiling the dignity of a person’s corpse or grave.

• Human rights violations – actions that infringe upon the fundamental human rights of individuals as outlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights conventions. Related to but distinct from war crimes, in that human rights violations do not have to occur in the context of war or conflict.

• Inextricably – impossible to separate. 

• Jihadist – a militant Islamic ideology that aims to use violence to achieve a society governed by religious Islamic law. 

• Mercenary – a soldier who fights for the purpose of financial gain, and is not specifically tied to any given country.

• Mocking – insulting or dehumanizing language.

• Mutilation – disfigurement, such as removing body parts

• Nomadic – a kind of society that does not live in any one set location for long periods of time, either by moving between different locations (such as during wet or dry seasons) or being continuously on the move.

• Private military company– a privately owned company that employs mercenaries and provides services involving security or warfare.

• Subjected to – forced to endure. 

• War crimes – violations of international humanitarian law carried out in times of war. Distinct but related to crimes against humanity or human rights violations, in that they are specific breaches of international agreements on how to conduct war, like the Geneva Conventions.