Lawyers prepare appeal to International Criminal Court accusing Putin of weaponising hunger – The Guardian

Human rights lawyers, in cooperation with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, are preparing a dossier of war crimes for submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) accusing Russia of deliberately causing famine during the war against Ukraine. Source: The Guardian Details: The publication notes that the goal of human rights activists is to document cases when Russian invaders used hunger as a weapon of war to provide evidence that will allow the ICC to launch the first such criminal prosecution that can bring charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Yousuf Khan, a senior lawyer with law firm Global Rights Compliance, emphasises that "the weaponisation of food has taken place in three phases," beginning with the initial invasion, during which food supplies were cut off and Ukrainian cities were besieged.

The lawyer described the second phase as the destruction of "objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population" throughout Ukraine, including food, water, and energy sources. The third phase is Russia's attempts to prevent or restrict the export of Ukrainian food.

Only the latest news, only the facts, only the truth. Follow Ukrainska Pravda on Twitter!

The publication recalls that in 2018, the UN Security Council approved a resolution condemning the use of hunger as a means of warfare, and in 2019, amendments were made to the Rome Statute of the ICC, which expanded the list of cases that may be instituted on this fact.

Until the end of the following year, GRC will be assembling the dossier in close cooperation with Ukrainian prosecutors. In order to send information about alleged war crimes to the ICC prosecutor, third parties are permitted to do so under Rome Statute Article 15, which outlines the filing process. The prosecutor, who is based in The Hague, would have the final say regarding whether to move forward.

Part of the efforts of lawyers will be aimed at identifying the perpetrators, in particular, to call for the indictment of Putin, as happened in March, when the ICC issued a warrant for the arrest of the President of the Russian Federation for overseeing the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia from the territories occupied during the war. Khan notes that in the same fashion one could argue for hunger-related crimes. "Putin could bear responsibility for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others," he claimed, as well as for a failure to exert proper control over Russian forces or other individuals who have been charged with specific criminal acts.

Background:

On 14 September 2023, The International Criminal Court's field office started its work in Kyiv. This is the largest office of the ICC outside The Hague.
On 2 March 2023, the International Criminal Court launched an investigation into possible crimes committed in Ukraine. A joint investigative group, which includes several European judicial bodies, was created to collect evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
In March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir and Presidential Commissioner for Children's Affairs Maria Lvova-Belova, suspecting them of committing the war crime of illegal deportation of children from the occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation

Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine.

Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!