The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, said today that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that crimes have been committed” in Ukraine “that fall under the jurisdiction of the court” based in The Hague.
“The evidence will speak for itself. When we have looked at it, analyzed and verified it, in the end independent judges will decide on the strength of what we find,” Khan said in Ukraine at a joint press conference with that country's attorney general, Iryna Venediktova.
Khan maintains his second visit to Ukraine since the ICC Prosecutor's Office opened on March 2 activities to collect evidence for an investigation.
The chief prosecutor of the international tribunal explained that “there are a variety of military actions” in the country and his office has to “separate those that are legal from those that might not be legal under the Rome Statute,” he said referring to the court's founding charter.
He added that “everyone with a weapon, with a rocket or with access to an airplane or missile has responsibilities to fulfill, such as not targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.”
Khan explained that he plans to maintain contact with Ukrainian prosecutors and will continue to “try to contact the authorities of the Russian Federation” because he has “no other agenda beyond law.”
Asked if he aims to put Russian high military commanders on the bench of the accused, he replied that “no professional investigator can start with a goal, but with evidence”, and that “when you see that evidence, you will see where it leads.”
As to whether it would not be more convenient to establish an “ad hoc” tribunal to try war crimes committed in Ukraine, Khan replied that “many people have had good ideas” about it, but that the court based in The Hague “has jurisdiction” and that “123 States are parties” to the ICC.
During his visit to Ukraine, Khan visited the city of Bucha, east of Kiev, from where he said that “Ukraine is the scene of a crime”.
“We are here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes are being committed that fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC. We have to go through the fog of war to get to the truth,” Khan said in a tweet published Wednesday on the court's verified account.
On the other hand, the Attorney General of Ukraine explained that before the holding of a hypothetical trial in The Hague “we first need to find concrete evidence”, because her country wants to “do everything under the rule of law”.
(With information from EFE)
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