Over the past 20 years, Eurojust has built up a solid track record in providing operational, technical, logistical and financial support to national prosecutors working on cross-border cases. From the very start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the same support has served to coordinate and strengthen national investigations into international crimes committed in Ukraine.

Eurojust helped to set up a Joint Investigation Team that now consists of Ukraine, six EU Member States and the ICC.

Recognising the specific evidentiary challenges related to this type of investigations, a Core International Crimes Evidence Database was established after a record speed amendment of Eurojust’s legal framework.

Already having this advanced support structure in place made Eurojust a logical choice for hosting the ICPA. Being located in The Hague will also facilitate close cooperation and coordination with the ICC and other international justice actors.

A JIT is set up by countries. It is based on a legal agreement between national authorities for the purpose of collecting and exchanging information and evidence.

The ICPA is set up by Eurojust. The purpose is to provide enhanced support to countries which have opened an investigation into the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Eurojust will not be collecting evidence itself; this will be done by national authorities in the context of their investigations.

The ICPA is not limited to JIT members but will provide support to the JIT.

Countries in possession of information or evidence relevant for the investigation of the crime of aggression against Ukraine may also request their participation in the ICPA.

The ICPA was set up in support of national judicial investigations into the crime of aggression that are being carried out by independent prosecutors and judges.

While having facilitated the discussions between stakeholders about setting up the ICPA, the European Commission, in full respect of the rule of law, has no influence on the prosecutorial process.

War crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression are all international crimes. While the legal sources that outlaw these crimes differ, they have in common that they constitute grave violations of international law and are therefore considered of concern to the international community as a whole.

As such, these crimes fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. A different test applies to the exercise of jurisdiction over the crime of aggression than for the other core international crimes.

The international definition considers the crime of aggression as a leadership crime that can only be committed by those with the power to shape a state's policy of aggression, rather than those who carry it out.

Countries in possession of information or evidence relevant for the investigation of the crime of aggression against Ukraine may request to participate in the ICPA.

While difficult to predict at this stage, a wider interest to participate may be expected in light of the unprecedented number of Ukraine-related national investigations.

It is also expected that the ICPA will be able to count on the knowledge of internationally recognised experts in this field, as many stakeholders have offered to support the ICPA in this manner.

There is a clear link between the work of the ICPA and the CICED. Evidence already submitted to CICED may be relevant for the investigation into the crime of aggression. Vice versa, national evidence brought in by ICPA participants can be stored in CICED and subsequently analysed.

The 'Freeze and Seize' Task Force was set up by the European Commission to ensure the efficient implementation of the EU sanctions against listed Russian and Belarussian oligarchs across the EU.

The Task Force is composed of the Commission, national contact points from each Member State, Eurojust and Europol as well as other EU agencies and bodies as necessary. It will coordinate actions by EU Member States, Eurojust, Europol and other agencies to seize and, where national law provides for it, confiscate assets of Russian and Belarussian oligarchs.

CICED is the Core International Crimes Evidence Database , set up and managed by Eurojust. It is a unique, tailor-made judicial database in which evidence of core international crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes) is stored, preserved and analysed. CICED enables the Agency to support national judicial authorities in investigating and prosecuting core international crimes and their context. Competent national authorities from EU Member States and countries with Liaison Prosecutors at Eurojust can submit evidence to CICED via secure file transfer. Possible types of evidence include, but are not limited to, videos, photographs, audio recordings, satellite images, witness statements, victim testimonies, and medical and forensic documents.

The fact that CICED stores evidence on core international crimes from national judicial proceedings in a single, secure, central database allows for the early identification of parallel investigations, which results in a more efficient use of resources. Providing an overview of interviewed victims helps avoid re-victimisation by repeated interviews. In addition, targeted evidence searches mean faster and more effective national investigations. Based on structured evidence, national and international authorities can successfully proceed with prosecutions.

Shortly after the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the institutions of the European Union extended Eurojust's mandate. On 1 June 2022, Regulation 2022/838 entered into force, allowing the Agency to preserve, analyse and store evidence of core international crimes, and thereby paving the way for CICED. The evidence database has been set up within Eurojust's secure IT environment and complies with the highest IT security and data protection standards.

Please contact your National Desk or Liaison Prosecutor by email, specifying that you wish to submit evidence to CICED. Eurojust will contact you with information on how evidence transfer works, or if you have already submitted evidence, with the technical information necessary for the transfer. Please note that this contact option is reserved exclusively for national judicial authorities.

Eurojust will receive evidence submitted by national authorities. Information collected by private parties such as non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations may eventually become evidence, but it needs to be assessed by national and international judicial authorities. Private parties are therefore asked to submit relevant information to their national authorities.

CICED is not limited to a particular conflict. It can serve as evidence storage for any armed conflict investigated by Eurojust's partners.

More information is available in this section of the Eurojust website.