Ukraine

The ICC prosecutor opened a preliminary examination of the situation in Ukraine in April 2014 after non-member state Ukraine accepted limited jurisdiction through a declaration under article 12(3) of the Rome Statute. The declaration covered crimes committed on Ukrainian territory or by its nationals from 21 November 2013 to 22 February 2014. In September 2015, following a second 12(3) declaration, Ukraine expanded the jurisdiction to also cover crimes from 20 February 2014 onwards.

Regarding the period from November 2013 to February 2014, due to the absence of an ‘armed conflict’ in Ukraine at the time, the OTP has mainly considered possible crimes against humanity by the Ukrainian authority against protesters, despite noting that information does not suggest the attacks were widespread or systematic. Later events, including conflicts in Crimea and Donbas, may involve war crimes as well, and the OTP will also consider findings on the July 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17, as well as future alleged crimes in the Ukrainian situation. The issue of granting amnesty to participants in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, as envisioned by the 2015 Minsk Agreement on regulating the conflict in the Donbas region, has proven to be contentious.

The Office of the prosecutor has considered the following possible legal qualifications under the Statute in this situation: enforced disappearances and killing, torture and other forms of ill-treatment, forced conscription of Crimean residents to serve in the armed forces of the Russian Federation, deprivation of defendants’ rights of fair and regular trial, deprivation of liberty, transfer of part of the civilian population of the Russian Federation into Crimea and of part of the population of Crimea outside the territory, seizure of property, alleged persecutory acts, conduct of hostilities, treacherous killing, murder, sexual and gender-based crimes, use of child soldiers, and torture and ill-treatment in detention.