Spain Will Ask His Police In Ukraine To Help Investigation Of War Crimes

Evacuation of bodies from mass graves in Izium, Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/National Police of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Spanish police will be stationed in Ukraine over the coming weeks, to help investigate alleged war crimes, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the NATO Parliament in Madrid on Monday.

This came after a delegation of Spanish police officers had previously arrived in Kyiv, to meet with representatives from Ukraine's prosecutor's office, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.

In their initial meeting, the two countries established the provisions of cooperation and determined the area of placement, the ministry said.

Spanish officers will cooperate with Ukrainian investigators and prosecutors in gathering evidence that can be included in cases investigating alleged violations of international law following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.

PM Sanchez also announced that a new training center for Ukrainian troops in the city of Tokyo, central Spain, would start operating in late November.

Last July, the Netherlands hosted Ukraine's Accountability Conference to complete a complex task of sharing evidence, prosecution strategies, and providing international war crimes expertise to investigators on the ground.

The main participants are Attorney General of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan, Commissioner of the European Union for Justice Didier Reynders, Ukrainian Attorney General Iryna Venediktova and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten.

In September, UN investigators said war crimes had occurred in the Ukrainian conflict, with bombings in civilian areas, violent executions, torture and sexual violence.

"Based on the evidence gathered by the Commission, it has been concluded that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine," Erik Mose, head of the investigative team, told the UN Human Rights Council, launching CNA from AFP.

UN investigators usually present their findings on international crimes in conditional language, referring to the final confirmation of war crimes and similar violations to legal courts.

The council was formed by the Investigative Commission, the highest possible level of investigation, in May to investigate crimes in Russia's war in Ukraine.

A team of three independent experts presented their first verbal update to the council, after launching initial investigations looking at the areas of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy, saying it would expand future investigations.