Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda is seeking a full-scale investigation of war crimes in eastern Ukraine and in Crimea.
“Following a thorough and independent process, I can announce today that the statutory criteria for opening investigations into the situation in Ukraine are met,” Bensouda said in her statement published on Dec. 11.
The prosecutors of the court had been investigating allegations of a “broad range” of war crimes in Ukraine since April 2014, and found a “reasonable basis to believe” that the country indeed experienced war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The next step is to get approval from the judges of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court to initiate a full-scale investigation of murders, tortures, rapes, unlawful detentions, attacks on civilians that took place during Russia’s war.
When they give the green light, the court will start investigating the crimes committed in the context of the conduct of hostilities, crimes committed during detentions and crimes committed in Crimea.
The long-awaited step by the court has already been viewed as historic among some Ukrainian top officials.
“International justice may not be served fast, but it is surely inevitable,” wrote Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, on Twitter. “One day Russian criminals will face trial.”
Konstantyn Reutskiy, executive director at the East-SOS charitable foundation, believes that the restoration of the rights of those who have become victims of this war can be achieved only through a fair trial.
“We expect that Russia’s top leadership involved in thousands of deaths on the territory of Ukraine will be in the dock,” Reutskiy said.
Meanwhile, Russia is not a member of the еhe International Criminal Court in Hague and does not have to recognise any verdict of the court.
Russia started its war in the Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern region, in 2014. Since then, the war has taken at least 14,000 lives.
