Slovakia joins international investigation team to probe war crimes committed in Ukraine

Amid the ongoing ravaging war in Eastern Europe, Slovakia has officially joined the international investigation team to probe war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine by the Russian armed forces. Dalibor Skladan, the General Prosecutor's Office of Slovakia, stated that this decision was taken during a coordination meeting between representatives of Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, the Slovak Republic and the International Criminal Court. The meeting was conducted at the Eurojust headquarters in The Hague on May 30-31. 

According to Skladan, the goal of the meeting was to ratify amendments to the Joint Investigation Team agreement that Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine signed in March. Further, the International Criminal Court ICC) joined the joint investigating team in April. Skladan stated that apart from Slovakia, Latvia and Estonia have also joint the investigation team. According to reports, a dedicated squad comprising of four prosecutors and 25 police officers has been constituted in Slovakia. 

Support grows for the creation of special tribunal to prosecute Russia

"Joining the joint investigation team is a natural result of the ongoing support activities of the Slovak Prosecutor General's Office and it signifies the Slovak Republic's official involvement in the investigation of war crimes in Ukraine," said Josef Kandera, First Deputy Prosecutor General, the European Pravada reported citing Aktuality.sk news website. Notably, there is also growing support for establishing a special tribunal to prosecute Russia for its aggression in Ukraine. However, the ICC cannot prosecute crimes of aggression, as neither Russia nor Ukraine is a member of the judiciary.

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy terms killings of civilians as 'genocide' and 'war crimes'

It is pertinent to mention here that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has labelled killings of civilians as "genocide" and "war crimes." Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "war criminal" who should face charges. Iryna Venediktova, Ukraine's prosecutor general, claimed her office has initiated over 15,000 criminal investigations relating to the ongoing battle and identified over 500 suspects. According to her, Russian ministers, military commanders and propagandists are among the suspects. Iryna Venediktova further stated that her office was prepared to take legal action against around 80 of them.

Image: AP