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The International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. The ICC is distinct from the International Court of Justice, an organ of the United Nations that hears disputes between states.
Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows states or international organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where the alleged crime was committed, and regardless of the accused's nationality, country of residence, or any other relation to the prosecuting entity. Crimes prosecuted under universal jurisdiction are considered crimes against all, too serious to tolerate jurisdictional arbitrage. The concept of universal jurisdiction is therefore closely linked to the idea that some international norms are erga omnes, or owed to the entire world community, as well as to the concept of jus cogens – that certain international law obligations are binding on all states.
International criminal law (ICL) is a body of public international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. The core crimes under international law are genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.
The International Criminal Court has opened investigations in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Darfur in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Libya, Uganda, Bangladesh/Myanmar, Palestine, the Philippines, and Venezuela. Additionally, the Office of the Prosecutor conducted preliminary examinations in situations in Bolivia, Colombia, Guinea, Iraq / the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Georgia, Honduras, South Korea, Ukraine and Venezuela. Preliminary investigations were closed in Gabon; Honduras; registered vessels of Comoros, Greece, and Cambodia; South Korea; and Colombia on events since 1 July 2002.
The states parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court are those sovereign states that have ratified, or have otherwise become party to, the Rome Statute. The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court, an international court that has jurisdiction over certain international crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes that are committed by nationals of states parties or within the territory of states parties. States parties are legally obligated to co-operate with the Court when it requires, such as in arresting and transferring indicted persons or providing access to evidence and witnesses. States parties are entitled to participate and vote in proceedings of the Assembly of States Parties, which is the Court's governing body. Such proceedings include the election of such officials as judges and the Prosecutor, the approval of the Court's budget, and the adoption of amendments to the Rome Statute.
The Völkerstrafgesetzbuch, abbreviated VStGB, is a German law that regulates crimes against (public) international law. It allows cases to be brought against suspects under international criminal law provisions, meaning that suspects can be prosecuted even though both they and their victims are foreigners and the crime itself took place abroad.
Karim Asad Ahmad Khan is a British lawyer specialising in international criminal law and international human rights law, who has served as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since 2021.
The International Criminal Court's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, provides that individuals or organizations may submit information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. These submissions are referred to as "communications to the International Criminal Court".
The International Criminal Court investigation in Darfur or the situation in Darfur is an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into criminal acts committed during the War in Darfur. Although Sudan is not a state party to the Rome Statute, the treaty which created the ICC, the situation in Darfur was referred to the ICC's Prosecutor by the United Nations Security Council in 2005. As of June 2019, five suspects remained under indictment by the court: Ahmed Haroun, Ali Kushayb, Omar al-Bashir, Abdallah Banda and Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein. Charges against Bahar Abu Garda were dropped on the basis of insufficient evidence in 2010 and those against Saleh Jerbo were dropped following his death in 2013. In mid-April 2019, Haroun, al-Bashir and Hussein were imprisoned in Sudan as a result of the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état. In early November 2019, the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok stated that al-Bashir would be transferred to the ICC. One of the demands of the displaced people of Darfur visited by Hamdok prior to Hamdok's statement was that "Omar Al Bashir and the other wanted persons" had to be surrendered to the ICC.
The International Criminal Court investigation in Afghanistan or the Situation in Afghanistan is an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into war crimes and crimes against humanity that are alleged to have occurred during the war in Afghanistan since 1 May 2003, or in the case of United States Armed Forces and the CIA, war crimes committed in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania or Lithuania. On 5 March 2020, the investigation was authorised to officially begin.
Iryna Valentynivna Venediktova – Ukrainian politician, diplomat, lawyer, Doctor of the Science of Law, professor. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein. The first female Prosecutor General in the history of Ukraine. In office – from March 17, 2020, to July 19, 2022. Director of the State Bureau of Investigation ad interim. Member of Parliament of Ukraine from the Servant of the People party of the 9th convocation. Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy.
A preliminary examination by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to analyze possible crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela is currently open. A preliminary examination was previously opened in 2006, but closed after concluding that the requirements to start an investigation had not been met. In February 2018, the ICC announced that it would open preliminary probes into alleged crimes against humanity performed by Venezuelan authorities since at least April 2017. In 2020, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC stated that it believed there was a "reasonable basis" to believe that "since at least April 2017, civilian authorities, members of the armed forces and pro-government individuals have committed the crimes against humanity", and on 2021 ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced the opening of an investigation regarding the situation in the country.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, on 20 December 2019 announced an investigation into war crimes allegedly committed in Palestine by Israeli personnel or members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups since 13 June 2014. The allegations include the establishing of illegal West Bank settlements and violations of the law of war by personnel of the Israeli Defence Forces during the 2014 Gaza War, including claims of targeting Red Cross installations. Members of armed Palestinian organizations, including Hamas, were accused of deliberately attacking Israeli civilians and using Palestinians as human shields. Israel is not a member of the ICC and disputes its jurisdiction on the basis that Palestine is not a sovereign state capable of being a party to the Rome Statute, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly condemned the allegations and investigation. According to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan, suspected war crimes by Israelis on Palestinian territory and by Palestinians on Israeli territory during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war are within the jurisdiction of the Palestine investigation.
Gibril Massaquoi was a commander and a spokesperson for the notorious Sierra Leone rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which also fought in Liberia. In 2005, he became the top informer for the prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He gave evidence to the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone set up to investigate war crimes committed in that conflict. He was relocated to Finland in 2008 as part of a witness protection programme, which provided immunity for crimes committed in Sierra Leone, but not Liberia.
The International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine or the Situation in Ukraine is an ongoing investigation by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) into "any past and present allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed on any part of the territory of Ukraine by any person" during the period starting "from 21 November 2013 onwards", on an "open-ended basis", covering the Revolution of Dignity, the Russo-Ukrainian War including the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia, the war in Donbas and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ICC prosecutor commenced these investigations on 2 March 2022, after receiving referrals for the situation in Ukraine from 39 ICC State Parties.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine violated international law. The invasion has also been called a crime of aggression under international criminal law, and under some countries' domestic criminal codes – including those of Ukraine and Russia – although procedural obstacles exist to prosecutions under these laws.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry in Ukraine is a United Nations commission of inquiry established by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 4 March 2022 with a mandate to investigate violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Commission delivered its reports on 18 October 2022 and 16 March 2023.
The Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine is a pro bono international group of lawyers established on 29 March 2022 to help Ukrainian prosecutors coordinate legal cases for war crimes and other crimes related to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, national parliaments including those of Poland, Ukraine, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ireland declared that genocide was taking place. Scholars and commentators including Eugene Finkel, Timothy D. Snyder and Gregory Stanton; and legal experts such as Otto Luchterhandt and Zakhar Tropin, have made claims of varying degrees of certainty that Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine. A comprehensive report by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights concluded that there exists a "very serious risk of genocide" in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The proposed International Criminal Tribunal for the Russian Federation is a proposed ad hoc international criminal tribunal aimed at prosecuting the Russian Federation and senior Russian and Belarusian leaders for the Russian invasions of Ukraine as one or more crimes of aggression, as a complement to the existing International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine. Several international bodies announced their support for its establishment, including the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament.
References
- 1 2 3 Stephenson, Heather; Dannenbaum, Tom (2022-03-29). "What are War Crimes—and Will Putin Be Tried for Them?". The Fletcher School at Tufts University . Archived from the original on 2022-04-05. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- 1 2 Pancevski, Bojan (2022-03-08). "Germany Opens Investigation Into Suspected Russian War Crimes in Ukraine". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 2022-04-05. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- 1 2 "Lithuanian prosecutors to probe filmmaker's killing in Ukraine as war crime". Lithuanian National Radio and Television . 2022-04-05. Archived from the original on 2022-04-05. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- 1 2 "Spain opens probe into 'serious violations' by Russia in Ukraine". The Local – Spain. 2022-03-08. Archived from the original on 2022-03-27. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- 1 2 "Sweden launches investigation into Ukraine war crimes". The Local – Sweden. 2022-04-05. Archived from the original on 2022-04-05. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- ↑ "Estonia's Internal Security Service also investigating war crimes committed in Ukraine". The Baltic Times. 2022-03-30.
- ↑ "Germany launches probe into suspected war crimes in Ukraine: Germany's justice minister says the country's federal prosecution office has opened an investigation to collect evidence of war crimes in Ukraine". Al Jazeera. 8 Mar 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
- ↑ "The Ministry of Justice asks the Prosecutor General's Office to launch a pre-trial investigation against Putin and Lukashenko". Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania. March 15, 2022.
- ↑ "Romania to investigate Russian crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine". Telewizja Polska. 2022-07-11.
- ↑ "How Would Those Accused of Ukraine War Crimes Be Prosecuted?". PBS . 2022-03-25. Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
- ↑ "French Prosecutors Open War-Crimes Probe in Ukraine". The Wall Street Journal . 2022-04-05. Archived from the original on 2022-04-07. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
- ↑ Stéphanie Maupas (March 18, 2022). "War crimes in Ukraine: The hunt for evidence is on: Ukraine, Western countries and NGOs are building a case to prosecute Russia before the International Criminal Court". Le Monde.
- ↑ "Lithuania opens probe into crimes against humanity in Ukraine attacked by Russia". LRT . 3 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
- ↑ "Åklagare i Sverige utreder krigsbrott i Ukraina" [Prosecutors in Sweden are investigating war crimes in Ukraine] (in Swedish). SVT. 19 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
