“We will not hesitate to act,” the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor said Monday about alleged war crimes in Ukraine ahead of the opening of an international conference of justice ministers in London aimed at mobilizing additional resources to support the court’s investigations.
According to the British government, more than 40 countries are represented at this conference, organized jointly by Great Britain and the Netherlands, in London on Monday. EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders will also attend the full-day conference.
The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, has opened an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in connection with the war against Ukraine that Moscow started on February 24, 2022, the vast majority of which are attributed to Russian armed forces .
On Friday, she issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the war crime of “illegally deporting” Ukrainian children.
“Unfortunately, Ukraine is a crime scene and it seems that quite a number of crimes were committed there. We receive information. We are conducting independent investigations, I think in a structured and efficient way,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, who was present at the London conference, told the BBC.
But we can’t do everything at the same time. We don’t have unlimited resources,” he added. “When it comes to law enforcement, we have to abide by the rules.”
“When reliable evidence is collected and compiled and there is no exculpatory evidence that mitigates or reduces criminal liability, we will not hesitate to act,” prosecutors said.
The ICC needs financial and technical resources to conduct its investigations, and last December Karim Khan called on the international community to increase its support for the institution.
Several countries will announce on Monday the mobilization of additional resources in support of the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
London has already announced almost £400,000 (€452,000) in additional funding, bringing its total support to £1m (€1.13m) since last year, to provide psychological support for witnesses and victims of crime or reinforcement British experts to fund the ICC.
This conference defends “a cause of blaming war criminals for the atrocities committed during this unjust, unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine,” said UK Justice Secretary Dominic Raab in a press release.
Ukrainians “deserve our support to seek justice,” stressed his Dutch counterpart Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius.
Since the start of the war, the United Kingdom has been the second most committed country behind the United States in funding to support Ukraine, with more than £2 billion in 2022, an amount that must also be mobilized in 2023.