US President Joe Biden has directed his government to share evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court. Two senators have said that the US will support the ICC's investigation into alleged abuses by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Dick Durbin, the Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Lindsey Graham, the Republican ranking member of the panel lauded the decision by Joe Biden's administration. The Pentagon had been against the proposal and argued that any collaboration with the court may lead to politicised prosecution of American troops stationed abroad.
The US hadn't signed the Rome Statute to become a member of the ICC and therefore argues that it’s not subject to the court’s jurisdiction. Washington anticipates that an ICC prosecutor would have the power to investigate the actions of US troops in war, Politico reported. The US, for long has refused to cooperate with the ICC over concerns that the court might then investigate crimes by the US troops or its allied countries.
The ICC issued an arrest order for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the alleged deportation of children from Ukraine in March. “Since the beginning of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, the president has been clear: there needs to be accountability for the perpetrators and enablers of war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine,” a National Security Council spokesperson told New York Times.
The war in Ukraine and Biden's promise to Zelenskyy to help Kyiv hold Moscow accountable for its atrocities seems to have given the US a push to share evidence with the tribunal. Lawmakers from both parties had urged the administration to provide evidence.
According to a National Security Council spokesperson, the US had sent teams of international investigators and prosecutors to help Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General in preparing war crimes cases.
