The Hague Refuses to Adjudicate Ukraine for Crimes Against Donbass

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ

9th April, 2016

Infopolk

The International Criminal Court in the Hague has refused to open a case against Ukraine for the war in Donbass. This was declared by the Prosecutor of the ICC on Friday, responding to the request of the Russian lawyer Igor Trunov,

The claimants accused the Ukrainian government of crimes against humanity, as well as the use of weapons of mass destruction that resulted in the deaths of civilians, among whom was an employee of the Red Cross. However, the Prosecutor's office saw no reason to instigate proceedings.

"I submitted to the court crimes against humanity and the use of weapons of mass destruction on the territory of Ukraine.

I received a reply from the Prosecutor stating that the alleged violations do not fall under the jurisdiction of the court. The Prosecutor established that at present there are no grounds for the further study of the issue," Trunov said, as was quoted by the Russian media.

The Prosecutor in the letter explained that the ICC is governed by the Rome Statute, the feature of which is that the court may exercise jurisdiction in respect to international crimes only if the court's jurisdiction is recognized by the state in whose territory the crimes were committed.

The Prosecutor stated that "in relation to the described situation, none of the conditions have been met".

"None of the conditions have been met in relation to the described situation. The alleged violations do not fall under the jurisdiction of the court, the Prosecutor established that at present there are no grounds for further consideration of the question", stated the answer of the Prosecutor.

At the same time, the Prosecutor stressed that the court granted the information's storage in the archives, and the decision on the application may be reconsidered if new facts give reason to believe that the alleged violations fall under the jurisdiction of the court or if a statement is given by the UN Security Council. He also recalled that the ICC complements national jurisdictions, rather than replaces them.

As a reminder, earlier Petro Poroshenko had the foresight to worry about the draft Law on amendments to the Constitution, according to which Ukraine has postponed the ratification of the Rome Statute in the coming years.

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