The ICC has received the green light from 41 States Parties to investigate possible crimes committed in Ukraine since "November 21, 2013", i.e. from the start of the Maidan revolution.
In total, the prosecutor's office, the British Karim Khan, has 380 officials of over 80 different nationalities.
To carry out its investigations, the ICC relies heavily on the work carried out by NGOs and civil society in the country targeted by these war crimes.
Every day, hundreds of images and videos from all over Ukraine are pouring into social media.
Bombing of a hospital in Mariupol or use of cluster munitions in Kharkiv, suspicions of war crimes targeting civilians have multiplied since the start of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
Faced with concerns from NGOs and accusations from the Ukrainian government, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, announced on March 3 the “immediate” opening of an investigation.
Validated by 41 ICC States Parties, these investigations cover a period wider than the recent Russian invasion launched on February 24.
Acts committed since the Maidan revolution in 2013 may also be affected.
A task that promises to be complex as the sources that can serve as evidence have multiplied over the years.
Local and digital relays
The investigation into the conflict in Ukraine has already entered its first phase.
"Our work of collecting evidence has begun," confirmed Karim Khan in his statement released on March 3.
“In the context of a war crime, this work of collecting evidence is increased tenfold.
It is necessary to proceed by region, by territory, to authenticate the establishments concerned, explains Céline Bardet, a jurist specializing in international law who began her career at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Did they shelter many civilians?
What kind of weapons were used?
Which fighters use these weapons?
Then it is necessary to be able to collect the testimony of possible victims and cross-check their stories.
To fuel their investigations, ICC officials can rely on countless sources.
These may be local actors, linked in the field with members of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
In a report produced in Mykolaiv by the newspaper
Le Monde
,
a Ukrainian police inspector indicates, for example, that she wishes to transmit to the ICC information collected from a forensic doctor who examined victims of a bombing after suspicions of use of cluster munitions.
And these local relays are sometimes the only way for investigators to have direct access to crime scenes.
“The role of NGOs and their local contacts in these investigations is essential and unavoidable.
Even if the ICC will set up teams that will go as close as possible to the victims, it is sometimes impossible for them to go there for security reasons”, indicates Jeanne Sulzer, head of the “international justice” commission at Amnesty France. .
“Assume nothing, believe nothing and verify everything”
To carry out its investigations, the ICC can also rely on specialized services within national jurisdictions.
In France, the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes (OCLCH) is in charge of these cases.
Colonel of the gendarmerie, Eric Emeraux led this unit between 2017 and 2020. Contacted by
20 Minutes,
he details: “Under the Rome Statute, which gave birth to the ICC, there is a principle of complementarity between its work and that of national jurisdictions.
It is therefore very common for States to exchange and collaborate with the investigators of this Court.
Finally, evidence can come directly from citizens and Internet users.
For several years, the ICC website has provided a form on its website to contact the prosecutor's office.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
But the multiplication of these sources poses a problem, underlines Céline Bardet.
“On the one hand, digital technology has facilitated access to certain images that can be decisive in these investigations.
It is still necessary to have the means, the resources and the necessary training to be able to analyze them and put them in their context.
“Because in these cases, a testimony or an image is never enough, abounds Eric Emereaux:” The risk of intox is very real.
For war crimes investigators, it is believed that there are three rules to follow: don't assume, believe nothing and verify everything.
»
A risky “timing”
After collecting sufficient evidence and identifying a suspect or suspects, the prosecutor's office can ask the ICC judges to issue arrest warrants or issue summonses to appear before a possible trial.
This is what Karim Khan did in a completely different case, which is – again – Russia.
On March 10, the ICC prosecutor announced that he had requested the issuance of arrest warrants against three people for alleged war crimes committed during the war between Georgia and Russia in South Ossetia in 2008 .
“We feel that there is, on the prosecutor's side, a desire to pursue a proactive international criminal policy and to weigh in on the debates on the fight against impunity, and that is very good.
But it still raises the question of the positioning of justice in real time when a conflict is in progress, ”raises Jeanne Sulzer of Amnesty France.
Like her, Céline Bardet wonders about "the timing" chosen by Karim Khan to announce the issuance of these warrants: "In a context where the war seems far from over, this criminal policy could be interpreted as a lack of neutrality of the Court by the actors of the conflict.
At the risk of throwing oil on the fire.
»
World
Georgia-Russia war in 2008: the ICC prosecutor requests three arrest warrants
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War in Ukraine: Why did the International Criminal Court open an investigation?
War crimes
ICC
Justice
War in Ukraine
Vladimir Poutine
Russia
World
War
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