ICC prosecutor to join EU team probing crimes in Ukraine

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor will be part of an EU investigations crew to probe possible global crimes dedicated in Ukraine, the EU’s judicial cooperation agency said Monday.

“The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague becomes a participant within the joint investigation crew (JIT) on alleged center global crimes devoted in Ukraine,” Eurojust stated in a statement.

Chief prosecutor Karim Khan has signed an agreement with prosecutors general of Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine to take part in a joint investigative team to look into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since Russia’s invasion on February 24.

The agreement “aims to facilitate investigations and prosecutions in the concerned states as well as those that could be taken forward before the ICC,” Eurojust said.

“With this agreement, the JIT parties and the Office of the Prosecutor are sending a clear message that all efforts will be undertaken to effectively gather evidence on core international crimes committed in Ukraine and bring those responsible to justice,” the Hague-based agency said.

Khan visited the town of Bucha almost two weeks ago — the scene of hundreds of civilian killings which Ukraine has blamed on Russian forces who occupied it for several weeks.

“Ukraine is a crime scene. We’re here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are being committed,” Karim Khan told reporters at the time.

Russia has denied duty for the deaths and President Vladimir Putin has brushed off reviews of Russian soldiers capturing civilians as “fake”.