Six countries are now part of the joint investigation team, out of the eighteen who have opened investigations. Eurojust should soon be able to store, preserve and analyze the documents shared by national prosecutors.
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Three new countries joined the Judicial Cooperation Platform created on March 23, under the aegis of the European Agency for Judicial Cooperation Eurojust. Estonia, Slovakia and Latvia are now added to Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine in this joint investigation team (ECE), which allows national prosecutors to centralize and exchange documents on Crimes committed in Ukraine. “For Ukraine, it is not only the military front which is important, said the general prosecutor Iryna Venediktova, during an organized press conference, on May 31, at the headquarters of Eurojust, in The Hague. There is also the diplomatic front and, just as important now, the judicial front. “
On this front line, eighteen countries have opened investigations related to the war in Ukraine. Six of them are part of the joint investigation team, with which the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) also signed a cooperation agreement in late April. “This common legal front is absolutely essential, not only for Ukraine, but for the continuation of peace and security worldwide,” said Karim Khan, CPI attorney.
“The war in Ukraine will be the most documented armed conflict which we can testify so far, said the president of Eurojust, Ladislav Hamran. The proof is located in different jurisdictions, whether in the European Union or elsewhere, or collected by ICC investigators. And there is an urgent need for coordination. “Eurojust facilitates transnational judicial cooperation. The European Agency for Judicial Cooperation in Criminal matters allows national prosecutors to advance “without long letters or requests”, explained Ladislav Hamran. But, so far, the centralization of documents related to common surveys was limited.
In favor of the war in Ukraine, Eurojust should soon be able to store, preserve and analyze the documents shared by national prosecutors, including photos and videos, despite restrictions on facial recognition. An amendment in this sense must be approved by the Council of the European Union in a few weeks. To do this, the organization requires a budget of an additional 16 million euros for the next five years. “I am proud to help Eurojust to excel, to become a real pole of judicial cooperation and investigation into war crimes,” said European Commissioner Didier Reynders, also visiting The Hague, With the Homeland Affairs Commissioner, Ylva Johansson.
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