European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on March 4, 2023, the establishment of an International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA), to be based in The Hague.
A first step
An agreement to set up the centre was signed at the United for Justice conference in Lviv, where participants discussed ways to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in Ukraine, European Pravda reported. “As a first step you will sign the agreement to set up the International Centre,” von der Leyen said in a statement.
The ICPA will be set up within the structure of Eurojust, the EU’s agency for criminal justice cooperation, through an amended agreement for the existing Joint Investigation Team (JIT). The JIT, which collects evidence of core international crimes in Ukraine, includes the International Criminal Court, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia and Romania.
Preserving evidence
Eurojust’s rules were amended to allow it to securely preserve, store and analyse evidence of core international crimes, and it launched a judicial database in February 2023. The centre is intended to preserve evidence and prepare cases for future national or international trials.
Closing the gap
The ICC cannot prosecute the crime of aggression in Russia’s case because Russia does not accept its jurisdiction over that crime. In November 2022, the Commission proposed options to close the gap, including a special tribunal. “There needs to be a dedicated tribunal to prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression,” von der Leyen said. “Russia must be held accountable for these horrific crimes.”
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