President's Office considers ratification of Rome Statute irrelevant for the time being

Andrii Smyrnov, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian President's Office, believes that ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) should be considered after winning the war against Russia.

Source: Smyrnov on the sidelines of the International Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine international conference, reports European Pravda with reference to Interfax-Ukraine 

Details: Smyrnov noted that he would not choose to raise the issue of ratification of the Rome Statute at this point.

Quote: "Because someone has planted this fear that if the Rome Statute is ratified, our servicemen may be subjected to criminal prosecution by the International Criminal Court – not in us, but amongst many in our military."

At the same time, Smyrnov pointed out that in fact the ICC can prosecute citizens of Ukraine without ratifying the Rome Statute, since Ukraine gave the court the right to investigate crimes on its territory.

Quote: "Now it is necessary to approach the ratification of the Rome Statute carefully, clearly answering several questions: why do it now, during the war, without appropriate explanatory work among the soldiers, that ratification won’t bring anything new for them. The second question is why should Ukraine do it."

Details: Smyrnov also referred to the fact that some countries, such as the United States, did not ratify the Rome Statute at all. "I believe that the issue of studying the feasibility of ratifying the Rome Statute should be postponed for a while, for after the victory of Ukraine," he concluded.

A total of 123 states are parties to the Rome Statute. China, India, Belarus, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, among others, have not signed or ratified it. Russia, like the United States, signed the Rome Statute, but subsequently withdrew its signature.

Background:

• Ukraine is also not a party to the Rome Statute, the international agreement on the basis of which the International Criminal Court was established and operates. However, Ukraine gave the International Criminal Court the right to investigate crimes on its territory.

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