An important first step will be taken this weekend at an international conference in the Ukrainian city of Lviv to hold Russia accountable for war crimes. As Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced on Saturday, the agreement on the establishment of a new International Center for the Prosecution of Aggressive Crimes (ICPA) will be signed at the conference.
It is intended to secure evidence for future court proceedings and will be placed at the site of the EU agency Eurojust in The Hague. Eurojust is responsible for judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the Union.
Putin must be held accountable
Russia and President Vladimir Putin must be held accountable for the heinous crimes against Ukraine, von der Leyen said in a video (see below). There is increasing evidence of direct attacks on civilians, but also on energy supplies and other infrastructure. Russian troops are also known to have engaged in torture, beatings, sexual assaults and mass executions. Even children would not be spared.
“We must do everything in our power to bring the perpetrators to justice,” von der Leyen said. The EU supports the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC began investigating alleged war crimes shortly after the Russian invasion. The Court also investigates crimes against humanity. To better investigate him, the Ukrainian government has set the stage for the opening of an ICC office in Ukraine, which could open “in the near future,” Ukrainian Attorney General Andriy Kostin announced on Friday.
Own dish planned
However, the ICC, based in The Hague, cannot take action against top Russian leaders for the crime of aggression because Russia does not recognize its jurisdiction. That is why the EU wants its own court for aggression crimes. Kiev is pushing for a special international tribunal to hold Russia accountable. The ICPA is a first step in this process to secure evidence for future investigations.
The United for Justice conference will run through Sunday. The central issue is the responsibility of Russia and its leaders for aggression and terror against Ukraine, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday night. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland also made a surprise trip to the conference. “We are in Ukraine today to say clearly and with one voice: the perpetrators of these crimes will not go unpunished,” he said, referring to “Russian war criminals”. The United States stands behind Ukrainian war crimes investigators. Since the invasion began a year ago, Russia has committed atrocities on the largest scale of any conflict since World War II.
Source: Krone
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