Zelenskyy announces establishment of International Criminal Court office in Ukraine: "Russia will be punished for its genocidal policy"
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to discuss the establishment of an ICC office in Ukraine and how Russia can be punished for its "genocidal policy" against Ukrainians.
Source: President Zelenskyy’s video address
Details: Zelenskyy said that ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan was on a visit to Ukraine, and stressed that the ICC plays a historic role in bringing Russian criminals to justice.
Quote from Zelenskyy: "Russia's genocidal policy against our people will definitely have inevitable legal consequences for all those who conceived, approved and are now implementing this policy. And I want to emphasise: this isn’t only about the perpetrators [of genocidal crimes – ed.], but also about the top political and military leadership of the terrorist state. Today we discussed this with Karim Khan during a meeting in Kyiv.
Of course, this is not an easy job. But responding to Russian crimes in the face of this aggression in the realm of the rule of law and by mobilising the power of an international court is what will serve as one of the guarantees of the long-term future security of both Ukrainians and other nations. We will ensure this.
An office of the International Criminal Court is about to start its work in Ukraine. There is already effective cooperation in Ukraine between the International Criminal Court and the Office of the Prosecutor General. We pay special attention to such Russian crimes as the deportation of our people, and [in particular – ed.] the deportation of Ukrainian children. We will dismantle this entire Russian genocidal system, from the cogs [in its machine – ed.] to its architects, and bring them all to justice."
Details: Zelenskyy also told Khan about the preparation of the conference United for Justice, dedicated to the issues of justice, and invited the ICC prosecutor to participate in it.
Background:
- On 1 March 2022, a week after the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was revealed that Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague, had decided to start investigating Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
- On 22 February, Andrii Kostin, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, expressed his certainty that the first results of the investigation of Russian war crimes in Ukraine conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office of the ICC will be announced this year.
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