The office of Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), joined this Monday the joint team made up of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraineand coordinated by Eurojust, to collect evidence of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed on Ukrainian territory since the Russian invasion.
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The joint investigation team (JIT) was created on March 25 to facilitate investigations in the face of possible trials held in the States involved, as well as the judicial process that the ICC could open in the future in the event that they meet. enough evidence to prove the commission of crimes in its jurisdiction and to be able to arrest the suspects and transfer them to The Hague, essential conditions to start a trial.
Khan and the attorneys general of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine signed an agreement on Monday on the participation of the ICC prosecutor in the JIT with which they “send a clear message that all efforts will be made to effectively collect evidence on major international crimes committed in Ukraine and bring those responsible to justice”.
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The main purpose of the ECI, says Eurojust, is “to facilitate investigations and international judicial cooperation”, so the participation of Khan’s office in this team will allow “rapid and real-time coordination and cooperation” between the parties involved. in investigations.
The ICC prosecutor opened an investigation into the situation in Ukraine in early March after a referral of the case, and since then its investigators are collecting evidence on the alleged commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the invasion launched by Russia at the end of February.
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All efforts will be made to collect evidence on major international crimes committed in Ukraine
It should be remembered that Karim Khan visited the Russian-occupied city of Bucha, where hundreds of bodies of civilians, killed by the Russians (according to kyiv), were discovered two weeks ago.
“Ukraine is the scene of a crime. We are here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes are being committed that fall within the jurisdiction of this court,” Khan told reporters during his visit.
Russia, for its part, denies responsibility for Bucha’s deaths, with President Vladimir Putin calling reports that Russian soldiers shot civilians “false.”
EFE and AFP
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