The field office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) began operating in Kiev. It will help more effectively investigate Russian war crimes against Ukraine.
Prosecutor General Andrei Kostin announced this at a briefing today, calling the opening of the office a “historical event”.
He recalled , that almost six months ago the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin due to the deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation.
Now watching
– And today another step has been taken towards further strengthening our partnership. A so-called field office of the International Criminal Court has opened in Ukraine. This is the largest ICC office outside The Hague, — Kostin emphasized.
The work of the office will help strengthen interaction between Ukraine and the ICC.
The court’s office will focus on investigating evidence of war crimes of the Russian Federation. The presence of the ICC office in Kyiv will increase the efficiency and speed of response to new crimes of the occupiers.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, who arrived in Kiev, noted that “the law must be at the forefront”.
– What we see in the issues of partnership between the ICC and Ukraine, the development of partnership with civil society, with other UN member states, state and non-state participants in the ICC, is not just a spark. This is the dawn of a new time, in which we must show endurance and perseverance so that our words are not empty words, — Khan emphasized.
At the moment, Ukrainian prosecutors cooperate almost daily with ICC experts.
The Office of the Prosecutor General assured that they provide all materials, access to Russian crime scenes, testimony and evidence, so that the experts of the International Criminal Court can &# 8220;see the consequences of the aggressor’s crimes with your own eyes and draw your own impartial conclusions.
More than 104 thousand war crimes of the Russian Federation have already been registered in Ukraine, and their number is constantly growing.
How It is known that in March the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for dictator Vladimir Putin and the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. The case concerns the criminal deportation of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation.
As ICC prosecutor Karim Khan explained, the warrant is for life and will be valid until Putin appears in court.
The dictator can be arrested for territories of more than 120 countries that have ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC.
