Call Ukraine Can Drag The Suspect Of Russian War Crimes To The International Court Although Not A Member, Prosecutor Of The ICC: Not A Obstacle

Mass assembly in Izium, Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/National Police of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Ukraine could bring a suspect in Russia's war crimes to the international court, even though Moscow is not a member.

In a joint statement with European crime agency president Eurojust Ladislav Hamran and Ukrainian Attorney General Andriy Kostin, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said Ukraine could extradite Russia's war crimes suspect to a court based in The Hague, the Netherlands, if a court cannot be conducted in Ukraine for legal reasons.

"Legally, it won't be an obstacle to our jurisdiction," Khan said, as reported by The National News Oct. 14.

"Of course if there is a need and there is a reason why the trial cannot be conducted in Ukraine, whether it's due to some additional legal provisions we have or not, I'm sure we will get cooperation from Ukraine," Khan said.

The ICC opened its own investigation into the war in Ukraine shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, but said it wanted Kyiv to take the suspect to court whenever possible.

Khan will not say when the ICC will file its first charge, saying he will wait until "the evidence is sufficient."

"We are moving forward, we have a focus, but I will make an announcement at the right time," he said.

Ukraine's Attorney General's office has 28 field investigation teams on newly released territory, where Ukrainian Attorney General Andriy Kostin said the resignation of Russian troops had left evidence of illegal detention and torture of civilians and illegal deportation.

In the newly released Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine, prosecutors have found at least 11 burial sites, including one mass grave near Izium City and have excavated 457 bodies across the site, Kostin said.

Two additional mass graves were found in the Lyman region with about 154 people, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, buried there, he added.

As previously reported, Ukraine's Attorney General announced the opening of a criminal process regarding the Russian missile attack that bombarded Kyiv and other cities earlier this week.

Attorney General Andriy Kostin described the missile attacks launched since Monday as "classical acts of terror" carried out by Russia.

Russia itself refused to join the ICC when a court was set up in 2002, to try people for offenses including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Russia has repeatedly denied deliberately attacking civilians in Ukraine. Moscow also denies violating international law and denies Kyiv's accusations that the Russian army has committed war crimes.