Natalka Lototska, news editor
Photo: gp.gov.ua
An operational group called Freeze and Seize will be created for confiscating the assets of people who are under the sanctions imposed by the EU due to Russia’s aggression.
This is reported by the prosecutor general of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova with reference to the European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders. “Our inter-agency group looking for the assets of war criminals in order to direct them to the revenue of the state for rebuilding Ukraine will definitely coordinate their work with their European colleagues,” the prosecutor general states.
She also says that Genocide Network has held an extraordinary meeting regarding Ukraine.
“The prompt reaction and help of Genocide Network, Eurojust, the European Commission and the International Criminal court are really crucial for us,” Venediktova says.
Apart from that, the President of Eurojust Ladislav Hamran promises comprehensive support to international investigation teams in investigating war crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine. At the moment, 5 countries – Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany and Slovakia — have launched such national investigations.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan notes that his team has already started their investigation and urges everyone to mobilise justice.
“Now this mobilisation is extremely important, just as coordination of all efforts of all partners for investigating the horrible crimes committed as a result of Russia’s invasion. With our common efforts, we will definitely hold all the guilty ones accountable both at the national and international levels,” the prosecutor general sums up.
As a reminder, the UK announced sanctions against Russian oligarchs, in particular, Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska. In total the sanctions constitute 15 billion pounds (almost 20 billion dollars).