Minister of Justice Henriksson: Finland supports work of the International Criminal Court in Ukraine to bring war criminals to justice
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law. Finland is committed to supporting the work of the International Criminal Court to investigate international crimes committed in Ukraine in order to bring the perpetrators to justice,” Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson stressed at an international ministerial meeting today.
Minister of Justice Henriksson participated remotely in a meeting convened by Dominic Raab, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice of the United Kingdom. The meeting was attended by a large number of justice and foreign ministers from like-minded countries around the world. Minister of Justice of Ukraine Denys Maliuska also attended the meeting.
At the meeting, the ministers expressed their support for the activities of the International Criminal Court ICC and to the objective of ensuring that perpetrators of international crimes committed in Ukraine will be held criminally liable. The ministers also discussed ways to support the ICC investigation into the situation in Ukraine. The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) has a key role in coordinating the investigation in EU Member States.
“The war in Ukraine emphasises the importance of the International Criminal Court as the only international court where perpetrators of cruel offences can be brought to justice. War crimes and crimes against humanity must be investigated and, if the allegations are proven to be correct, they must lead to charges and convictions. Eurojust also plays a key role here as the agency for criminal justice cooperation in the EU,” Henriksson said.
Prosecutor Karim Khan from the International Criminal Court announced at the end of February that he would open an investigation into the situation in Ukraine. According to Khan, there is reason to suspect that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine. Finland and forty other countries have submitted a referral of the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court. Henriksson said at the meeting that Finland is fully committed to supporting the activities and independence of the International Criminal Court.
Inquiries:
Eeva Aittoniemi, Head of Unit, EU and International Affairs, Ministry of Justice, tel. +358 295 150 170, [email protected]
Elina Lemmetty, Counsellor (international criminal and humanitarian law), Unit for Public International Law, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 350 198, [email protected]