The procedure initiated by the German authorities is added to the summary officially opened last week by the International Court of The Hague
The German Prosecutor General’s Office plans to apply the principle of universal justice to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It systematically collects information on alleged war crimes, including testimonies among the almost two million refugees that the conflict has so far generated. War crimes range from bombing civilian targets, such as blocks of buildings or hospitals, to attacks against other infrastructure for civilian use.
The first step has been the opening of a structural procedure, as reported by the Minister of Justice, the liberal Marco Buschmann, to the newspaper «Passauer Neue Presse». This makes it possible to open a summary without specific defendants, with the aim of having the widest possible spectrum for future formal accusations.
It is a procedure that has already been used in war crimes in Syria or against Islamic terrorism. Germany applied for the first time the principle of universal justice against crimes against humanity to convict, in February last year, of complicity in systematic torture a former agent of President Bashar al-Assad’s secret services. Based on this precedent, a doctor is now being judged, imputed in the machinery of the Assad regime.
The principle of Universal Justice, to which Germany adhered in 2012, is based on the premise that no war criminal enjoys immunity, no matter where he is. In other words, the charges filed do not have to be related to the country where Justice is administered –in this case, Germany-.
The German Prosecutor General’s Office has so far two lawsuits for war crimes related to the war in Ukraine. They were formalized by the former Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberg and the former Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Baum. Both are members of the Liberal Party (FDP) and, therefore, coreligionists of Marco Buschmann, the current head of Justice in the government of Olaf Scholz.
The procedure initiated by the German Prosecutor’s Office is added to the summary for war crimes against Russia officially opened last week by the International Court in The Hague, which was not attended by any Russian representative.
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