The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan said on Wednesday, 2 March, that the world court would “immediately proceed” to investigate the alleged war crimes committed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, reported news agency AFP.
Khan, who needed the referral of 39 member nations, received the green signal to launch the probe late Wednesday.
Khan said in a statement,
“I have notified the ICC Presidency a few moments ago of my decision to immediately proceed with active investigations in the situation.”
The ICC has 123 member states which includes all European Union nations, apart from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland and several Latin American countries.
Probe Into War Crimes From 2013
Khan said that probe will include allegations of war crimes or genocide dating back to 2013 after heated protests in Kyiv against a Russia-favouring government.
The prosecutor said that he has "reasonable basis" to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have occurred during the conflict in Ukraine last week and said that he has already started collecting evidence for the case.
He said,
"These referrals enable my Office to proceed with opening an investigation into the situation in Ukraine from 21, November 2013 onwards."
The Hauge-based court can only prosecute crimes which are committed on the territory of its member nations. Ukraine is not a member but accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction in 2014.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also reached out to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and sought an urgent decision ordering Russia to cease military activity. He also said that Russia should be held accountable for “manipulating the notion of genocide to justify aggression.”
(With inputs from AFP)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)