(Ottawa) The Canadian government is sending RCMP investigators to the field to help build the International Criminal Court (ICC) case on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Posted at 11:19 a.m.
These investigators will be “assigned to teams working to end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes that affect the entire international community, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. “, said Tuesday in a press release the Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino.
The deployment of resources was requested by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC.
Canadian investigators “have the expertise to collect evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which can be used in a later prosecution,” noted Mr. Mendicino, promising that Ottawa would work “without relax with its allies and the international community to support the ICC in order to bring justice after the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia”.
The statement does not specify the number of RCMP investigators who will be deployed in the field or where exactly they will be sent. However, it is reported that “at present, RCMP personnel are assigned to the ICC to assist in investigations” and that the federal police “are preparing to send other people if necessary”.
The court in The Hague, in the Netherlands, announced on March 2 the opening of an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Moscow. Thirty-nine countries, including Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, had made the request a few days earlier, shortly after the start of the February 24 invasion.