In his opening speech, Didier Reynders said that he expected the participants of the Kyiv conference to sign the agreement on the establishment of a center operating within the structure of Eurojust, the Hague-based EU agency responsible for judicial cooperation between the member states of the European Union.
He emphasized that the establishment of the ICPA enjoys the full support of all EU member states, and the European Commission is ready to provide the necessary support for the operation of the center.
We are moving every stone to succeed in our quest to end impunity for Russia’s international crimes here in Ukraine
– said Reynders, then added: there is an agreement between the EU and its member states that the crimes committed during the war in Ukraine cannot go unpunished.
The European Commission will ensure that the investigations supported through the Joint Investigation Team are conducted in a uniform and cooperative manner – He told. To this end, discussions will begin next month with the member states, as well as with Australia, Canada, Liechtenstein, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, he informed.
He also emphasized: the executive body in Brussels fully supports the possibility of extending the jurisdiction of the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), established to investigate the most serious international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, to also investigate crimes of aggression. The International Criminal Court must remain the key jurisdiction for dealing with core international crimes, he added.
Reynders also reminded that Eurojust announced last week that it would create the International Core Criminal Evidence Database (CICED) to investigate crimes committed in Ukraine or any other conflict.
After the creation of the database, Ladislav Hamran, the president of Eurojust, announced at a press conference in The Hague: the database represents a crucial step in order to support the judicial responses to suspected basic international crimes. The measure allows Eurojust to collect, preserve, analyze and store evidence. It also supports national and international investigations by shedding light not only on individual crimes, but also on the systemic measures that enable them to be committed, Ladislav Hamran added.
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