On Monday, 18 October 2021, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim A.A. Khan QC, and his team met with a high-level delegation from Ukraine at the Seat of the Court led by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Iryna Venediktova.
The visit provided a valuable opportunity to engage with the Ukrainian authorities in productive discussions, including on the topics of cooperation and complementarity.
The Prosecutor General and her team provided updates regarding the criminal justice system and the legal framework in Ukraine, as well as an overview of her office’s efforts to achieve accountability for conflict-related crimes.
Building on the close collaboration between the ICC Office of the Prosecutor and the Ukrainian authorities during the preliminary examination phase concerning this Situation, Venediktova underscored the Ukrainian authorities’ readiness to continue to cooperate with the Prosecutor’s Office in the framework of the Rome Statute.
During the meeting, Karim Khan commended the commitment and cooperation by the Ukrainian authorities and welcomed the constructive and collaborative exchange with the Prosecutor General and her team. He thanked the Prosecutor General for her assurances of continued collaboration and recalled the importance he attaches to cooperation with Ukraine and all parties to the conflict in the impartial and independent exercise of the Office’s mandate.
The Prosecutor stressed the importance of promoting accountability with a view to determining how justice may best be served under the shared framework of complimentary domestic and international action.
ICC prosecutor has on 11 December 2020, announced the conclusion of the preliminary examination in the Situation in Ukraine, conveying its findings that the statutory criteria under the Rome Statute for opening investigations into the Situation are met.
Owing to constraints on the Office’s operational capacity in light of overextended resources against growing demands on the work of the Office, the former Prosecutor had indicated that strategic and operational decisions would need to be taken, in the future, on the prioritization of the Office’s workload.
The Office’s work in the Situation continues in accordance with statutory duties under the Statute as regards ensuring the integrity of future investigations pending a request to seek authorization to proceed to an investigation.
