LONDON (Reuters) – Justice ministers from world wide will gather in London to scale up the support being offered to the International Criminal Court in its investigations of alleged war crimes in Ukraine, the British government said on Saturday.
The meeting in March, which shall be hosted by UK Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and his Dutch counterpart Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, shall be attended by ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, in line with a press release.
“Almost a 12 months on from the illegal invasion, the international community must give its strongest backing to the ICC so war criminals could be held to account for the atrocities we’re witnessing,” said Raab, who can also be Britain’s deputy prime minister.
The meeting will seek to extend the worldwide financial and practical support to the ICC and coordinate efforts to make sure it has all it must perform investigations and prosecute those responsible, the statement said.
Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation”, has denied targeting civilians and other war crimes. Ukraine and the West say Moscow has no justification for what they are saying is an imperial-style war of occupation.
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Britain has been regular in its backing for Ukraine, having provided 2.3 billion kilos ($2.78 billion) in military support to Kyiv.
Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged artillery fire on the front line in Ukraine on Friday, even after Moscow said it had ordered its troops to stop shooting for a unilateral truce that was rejected by Kyiv.
The ICC’s Khan last 12 months opened an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine. Legal experts say the court’s jurisdiction on aggression only extends to member states and countries which have agreed to its jurisdiction, resembling Ukraine but not Russia. Moscow doesn’t recognise the tribunal.
“For us it’s crystal clear: these crimes may not go unpunished,” said Yesilgoz-Zegerius, describing the reports and pictures coming out of Ukraine as “horrific”.
(Reporting by Muvija M; Editing by Mike Harrison)
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