Andriy Kostin said the authorities in Kiev had approved a joint memorandum with the ICC which “will allow the opening of the office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in Ukraine in the near future," PAP wrote.
Although the ICC is currently investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it has no mandate to pursue the broader crime of aggression.
Speaking during a "United for Justice" conference on Friday in Lviv, western Ukraine, Kostin said the move would allow prosecutors to better investigate international crimes committed in Ukraine.
"However, there are currently no legal mechanisms that would allow the ICC to bring to justice for the crime of aggression those who planned and launched this brutal and unprovoked war," Kostin said as quoted by the AFP news agency.
Speaking to the conference, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "Russian President Vladimir Putin and all his accomplices must receive lawful and fair sentences," adding that "over 70,000 Russian war crimes" have been registered in Ukraine.
In his daily address on Friday, Zelensky referred to the issue stressing that Ukraine is doing its best to ensure that “the International Criminal Court can effectively try Russian war criminals and that our judicial institutions can deliver just sentences to murderers and henchmen,” Polish Radio news agency IAR reported.
(mo)
Source: PAP, IAR, AFP