The International Criminal Court’s attorney wants an investigation into crimes committed in Ukraine since 2014. Fatou Bensouda says that on Friday in a communication from the headquarters of the ICC in The Hague.
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According to the attorney’s office, there is an acceptable basis for believing that “a wide variety of behaviors constituting potential war crimes and crimes against humanity” have been committed in the context of the situation in Ukraine. She stressed that those crimes “committed by the various parties to the conflict are serious enough to warrant investigation by my office.” According to the prosecutor, these are crimes in the context of the hostilities, crimes during detention and crimes committed on the Crimean peninsula.
Euromaidan
The conflict started in late 2013, when then President Viktor Yanukovych unexpectedly decided not to sign the European Association Treaty, and a few days later angry Ukrainians occupied Kiev’s Independence Square – the square was called Euromaidan. The occupation lasted for months.
More than 100 people were killed in the anti-government protests. The protests were accompanied by street fighting. Ultimately, Yanukovych was ousted from power. After that, Russia annexed the Ukrainian Crimea peninsula and a few weeks later the conflict with the pro-Russian separatists ignited in the east of the country. Moscow is widely believed to support those separatists politically and militarily, despite the Kremlin’s denials.
The conflict ultimately claimed more than 13,000 lives. Almost 1.5 million people were displaced. After the 2015 peace accords, the intensity of the fighting has cooled, but the political process has barely progressed so far.
The ICC prosecutors had opened a preliminary investigation into possible crimes in Ukrainian territory as of February 20, 2014.
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