Senior officials from the European Union, the United States, Ukraine and the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched the new International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) on Monday in The Hague.
The new body will be investigating possible international crimes perpetrated in Ukraine, with a view to preparing a trial against the most senior Russian officials deemed responsible, including President Vladimir Putin.
Set up by the European judicial cooperation agency Eurojust, the investigative office is made up of national prosecutors who are already working in the Joint Investigation Team on war crimes committed in Ukraine.
By gathering evidence and compiling files, the ICPA can prepare for future trials, either before national or international courts, including a possible tribunal for the crime of aggression.
Calls to strengthen Rome Statute
The creation of the ICPA fills a gap to investigate allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. The ICC cannot currently prosecute the crime of aggression against the most senior officials of Russia, as it is not party to the ICC, according to the European Commission.
Discussions are continuing on the location and creation of an appropriate jurisdiction, particularly over the possibility of a special court, under the auspices of the UN and a Ukrainian jurisdiction backed by international judges.
In the meantime, “it is crucial to ensure that the relevant evidence is secured and that investigations can start within the existing legal frameworks”, stressed the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders. The Belgian official also called for the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, to be amended to give it the powers it lacks.
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Ukrainian Attorney General Andriy Kostin, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, Eurojust President Ladslav Hamran and US Deputy Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite (whose country is not a member of the ICC), also took part in the launch of the ICPA.
The Ukrainian judiciary has already documented 93,000 cases of war crimes, said Kostin. It has identified 347 suspects of war crimes and 600 suspects of aggression.
As for the ICC, in March it issued war crimes arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, over their responsibility in the deportation of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.
