:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/5K55SCOHFI35CXSRW6KSEC5XMQ.jpg "US Attorney General Asks Ukraine to Investigate Russian War Crimes 1")
The Attorney General of UNITED STATES, Merrick Garlandtraveled this Friday to the Ukrainian town of Lviv attend a conference on justice and signed a protocol of agreement with the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) charged with investigating Russian war crimes in the country.
“We will support our contribution with all the weight and might of the United States government. You have our commitment that we will do everything in our power to obtain the accountability that true justice demands,” Garland said in a speech.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Justice, the memorandum will facilitate cooperation with the group, which also includes the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Garland’s surprise visit comes just over a week after the US president Joe Bidentake a trip to Kyiv meet the Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenskythus marking a year since the start of the Russian invasion.
During his visit to Lviv, Garland assured that Washington was investigating “Ukrainian War Crimes That Violate US Laws”.
The head of the Ministry of Justice clarified that, although they continue to interview witnesses and collect evidence, they have already “specific suspects”.
During her trip, Garland met with Zelensky, as well as European and Polish officials who attended the conference. “United for Justice”during which politicians, activists and lawyers from various countries came together to discuss how to accelerate the legal mechanisms guaranteeing the prosecution of international crimes, in particular that of Russian aggression.
During the event, the President of Ukraine underlined that the crime of aggression is what “paved the way for other crimes” that have occurred in Ukraine, such as the killing and torture of civilians in cities like Bucha and Yahidne or the thousands of missile and drone strikes that have destroyed dozens of towns and villages.
The US attorney general previously made a surprise visit to Ukraine in June last year, where he met with the then Ukrainian attorney general to discuss international efforts to investigate Russian war crimes.
Zelensky demanded in the meeting with Garland on Friday that Russia be prosecuted internationally for war crimes.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that the International Penal Court succeed in punishing Russian war criminals,” Zelensky said.
“The main theme of all these meetings and the meeting of Lviv it is the responsibility,” he added. “The responsibility of Russia and its leaders is personal, for the aggression and terror against our state and our people”.
Zelensky said that so far there have been more than 70,000 Russian war crimes.
“But unfortunately at the moment we don’t know all the crimes,” he said. “Much of our territory is still under occupationand currently we cannot reliably predict how many Russian crimes we will discover after the expulsion of the invaders.”
With Garland, they participated in the conference Attorney General of Great Britain, Victoria Prentis; he Attorney General of the State of Spain, Álvaro García Ortiz, and the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders.
Meanwhile, in the The United Nationsdeputy spokesperson Farhan Haq ensured that humanitarian personnel from the HIM informs ofintense hostilitiesnear the besieged Ukrainian town of Bakhmutnoting that the few humanitarian partners of the world organization on the ground are focusing on the evacuation of the most vulnerable people from the conflict zone.
(With information from EFE, AP and Europa Press)
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