Eurojust, together with authorities from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine has remained steadfast in their commitment to accountability to the crimes committed in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion. Following a years-long investigation, the first charges and notifications of suspicions have now been presented and trial proceedings have started in Ukraine. In the meantime, the work of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) continues, in support of the future Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression. Additional evidence is being added to the Core International Crimes Evidence Database (CICED) and Eurojust is providing continuous legal and analytical support for national investigations.
Since the outbreak of the war, Eurojust has been at the forefront of supporting judicial accountability efforts against Russian crimes. Just three weeks following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Eurojust helped establish a joint investigation team (JIT) that now consists of Ukraine, six EU Member States, and the participation of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC-OTP), Eurojust and Europol. The JIT’s work is supported by the ICPA, a unique judicial hub where prosecutors and investigators from different countries work together to support investigations into the crime of aggression.
After the ICPA received an additional EUR 5 million to support the national investigations into the crime of aggression, this judicial hub continues to coordinate investigative and prosecutorial activities, as well as the case-building efforts of the participating national authorities. Facilitated by Eurojust’s legal, analytical and logistical services, the ICPA continues to lay the groundwork for the upcoming Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
The CICED plays a central role in this effort. Since becoming operational in 2023, the CICED has 10 000 evidence files from 17 countries. Eurojust stores, preserves and analyses the evidence. Eurojust then uses this evidence to identify potential overlapping investigations. Based on this structured analysis of the evidence, Eurojust provides tailored advice on various investigative and prosecutorial aspects of core international crime cases. This supports the competent national authorities in pursuing their own judicial proceedings.
Following the establishment of the JIT, authorities from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine have been working together with their partners from the ICC-OTP, supported by Eurojust and Europol, to investigate the core international crimes and the perpetrators behind them. Given the scale and complexity of the crimes, the JIT has mainly focused its work on crimes committed at detention sites. As a result of the JIT, the first charges and notifications of suspicions have been presented in several states and trial proceedings have started in Ukraine.
Eurojust is an agency of the European Union