BRUSSELS: The EU is to discuss its support for war crimes probes in Ukraine in meetings over the next two days with the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, the European Commission said on Saturday.
Karim Khan, of The Hague-based court, is to meet EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday in Luxembourg, then take part in a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the city on Monday.
The meetings underline the European Union’s strong support — also voiced in a G7 statement on Thursday — for investigations into atrocities in Ukraine, spurred on notably by killings in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv.
Ukraine’s government and some neighboring EU countries have said Russia — whose troops occupied Bucha before the discovery of the corpses — was responsible and guilty of war crimes. Moscow denies that.
Top EU officials have been more prudent, observing due process and preferring to await the results of war crimes investigations conducted by Ukraine’s prosecution service with help from the ICC, the EU, the UN human rights commissioner and the OSCE.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who visited Bucha on Friday with Borrell, said as she left Ukraine on Saturday: “If this is not a war crime, what is a war crime?“
But, she added, a rigorous investigation was needed so that any future war crimes charges stood up in court.
The EU is providing 7.5 million euros ($8.2 million) to train Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate war crimes.
Scrutiny of possible war crimes intensified further Friday with the missile strike on an eastern Ukraine train station packed with civilians fleeing a feared Russian offensive in which 52 people were killed.
The UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, has also said her office has received “credible allegations that Russian armed forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas.”
The ICC’s Khan said early last month his service had opened several probes into alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Borrell said in a Kyiv media conference on Friday alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: “We are in the presence of war crimes and we will help you, we will help the Ukrainian prosecutor, to present the proofs in front of the International Criminal Court.”
The EU has set up a joint investigation team with the Ukrainians to gather evidence in Bucha and elsewhere, with forensic experts drawn from some EU member states.
A commission spokesman said: “There are ongoing talks between Eurojust (the EU agency for judicial cooperation) and the International Criminal Court to join forces and for the court to be part of the joint investigation team.”
Additionally, 10 of the EU’s 27 member states have opened national investigations into alleged crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, he said.
It is “important that we connect the dots and work together to ensure that those responsible for atrocities and war crimes in Ukraine will be held accountable,” the commission spokesman said.
EU discusses Ukraine war crime probes with ICC prosecutor
https://arab.news/mq527
EU discusses Ukraine war crime probes with ICC prosecutor
- Karim Khan, of The Hague-based court, is to meet EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday
- Ukraine’s government and some neighboring EU countries have said Russia was responsible and guilty of war crimes.
Bangladesh’s religio-political party open to unity govt
- Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years
DHAKA: A once-banned Bangladeshi religio-political party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief said.
Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million.
Jamaat last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP and is open to working with it again.
“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, days after the party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.
Rahman said anti-corruption must be a shared agenda for any unity government.
The prime minister will come from the party winning the most seats in the Feb. 12 election, he added. If Jamaat wins the most seats, the party will decide whether he himself would be a candidate, Rahman said.
The party’s resurgence follows the ousting of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising in August 2024.
Rahman said Hasina’s continued stay in India after fleeing Dhaka was a concern, as ties between the two countries have hit their lowest point in decades since her downfall.
Asked about Jamaat’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Rahman said: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all.”
He said any government that includes Jamaat would “not feel comfortable” with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed with the Awami League’s backing in 2023.
