Spain calls for war crime investigation into death of aid worker in Ukraine

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Acting Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Tuesday that his country has asked the International Criminal Court and Ukraine to investigate the death of a Spanish aid worker as a possible war crime.

Speaking from Strasbourg, Albares said Spain would provide the human and material resources needed to clarify what happened.

Spanish aid worker Emma Igual, 32 was killed last weekend in what Spanish officials and her organization said was a Russian attack.

Igual, who was the co-founder and director of the Road to Relief NGO, was traveling to a town west of Bakhmut, Ukraine to deliver aid alongside three other volunteers.

Midway, a Russian missile appears to have struck their vehicle. Spain’s Acting Defense Minister Margarita Robles said the vehicle was blown up.

Canadian volunteer Anthony “Tonko” Ihnat was also killed. The other two survived despite being “badly injured,” according to Road to Relief.

According to international law, intentionally targeting personnel involved in humanitarian assistance constitutes a war crime.

“What I am very certain about is that, even if indirectly, the responsibility lies with the party that launched this war of aggression,” said Albares, and he promised Igual’s family that he would “get to the bottom” of what happened.

Road to Relief was working on the frontlines of Ukraine, delivering aid, providing medical attention and carrying out evacuations in some of the country’s most dangerous areas.

On Tuesday, Spain awarded Igual a posthumous Spanish civil order and honor granted in recognition of her extraordinary services.