On Monday, Merrick Garland, US Attorney General, confirmed the US’ cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate war crimes committed by Russia.

Source: Garland in a speech for the American Bar Association in Denver, Colorado, reported by AP 

Details: The US Attorney General noted that Congress has recently facilitated US cooperation with the ICC in investigating cases of foreign nationals related to Ukraine.

Quote from Garland: "We are not waiting for the hostilities to end before pursuing justice and accountability. We are working closely with our international partners to gather evidence and build cases so that we are ready when the time comes to hold the perpetrators accountable."

More details: Garland listed the assistance that the United States provides to Ukraine in the context of war crimes investigations, from training on environmental crimes to the development of a secure electronic case management system.

He also mentioned the seizure of US$500 million in sanctioned assets in the United States and more than 30 indictments that the US Department of Justice has issued to enforce sanctions.

Quote: "Ukraine must do three things simultaneously: it must fight a war; it must investigate war crimes; and it must ensure that a just society comes out on the other side of the war. [The Justice Department – ed.] is honored to stand with them."

More details: In a speech to American lawyers, Garland also called on private lawyers to voluntarily help Ukrainian victims, recalling how his grandmother and his wife's family were able to escape from Europe as refugees to the United States and avoid the Holocaust.

Background:

• As it is known, the United States is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which is the basis for the International Criminal Court. The position of American administrations was that the ICC cannot have jurisdiction over citizens of countries that are not parties to the Rome Statute – even if war crimes are committed on the territory of a signatory country, such as Ukraine.
• At the same time, the media reported that US President Joe Biden had secretly ordered the government to start handing over evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine to the ICC in The Hague. This information was confirmed by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin.

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