Human rights activist: Ukrainian servicemen-offenders can be prosecuted even without membership in ICC
Chairman of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group Yevhen Zakharov says that an opinion that the Ukrainian servicemen would not want to fight in eastern Ukraine, if they were prosecuted for international crimes is populist thesis.
Earlier, such opinion was expressed by Ukrainian MP Anton Herashchenko, who did not rule out that the servicemen made mistakes during the military confrontation with Russia, which cost human lives.
“To hold criminally liable for mistakes means to make our country completely defenseless because nobody then will want to protect Ukraine, if they know they could be brought to justice for their mistakes,” the MP said and rejected the idea of Ukraine’s accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Yevhen Zakharov recalled that the International Criminal Court would not prosecute the servicemen if Ukraine punished them for international crimes.
He stressed that if the Ukrainians had committed such crimes and that was proved, they would still be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.
He recalled that ratification of the Rome Statute was one of the requirements of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
“If we refuse, we once again do not fulfill the duty we have undertaken,” he said.
The human rights activist noted that not having ratified the Rome Statute, Ukraine would not have the right to initiate an investigation into the crimes that occurred on the territory of Ukraine. He is convinced that it is necessary to amend the Constitution, which would remove the possibility of postponement of ratification of the Rome Statute for three years, and to ratify the document.
