THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee stated Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is committing genocide in Ukraine. Their feedback got here a day earlier than they had been scheduled to satisfy with the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The ICC in March issued a global arrest warrant for Putin for conflict crimes, accusing him of non-public duty for the abductions of kids from Ukraine. However, it has not but charged him with another offenses dedicated by Russian forces since their invasion of Ukraine greater than 18 months in the past.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, instructed reporters throughout a go to to The Hague that Putin “tried to erase a culture, a people and a religion, and that is the definition of genocide.”
Another member of the committee, Ann Wagner, a Missouri Republican, agreed, talking of the “crimes against humanity, the downright genocide that this man has perpetrated.”
Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, stated Putin even earlier than the conflict had denied the existence of Ukraine as a rustic and a individuals.
“So I think he himself made the case for genocide and his behavior subsequently has filled in blanks,” Connolly stated.
Their feedback Wednesday got here as Russian shelling of a market in jap Ukraine killed at the least 16 individuals and wounded many extra. The assault was launched whereas U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv and was anticipated to announce greater than $1 billion in new American funding.
Members of the committee will meet Thursday with ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan and go to the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, or Eurojust, which hosts the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine. The heart goals to help nations already constructing circumstances towards senior Russian leaders for the crime of aggression. The International Criminal Court can prosecute crimes together with genocide however doesn’t have jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.
McCaul stated the committee members will likely be taking a look at “the evidence itself and how we can help The Hague gather more and collect more evidence and intelligence to prove the case against Putin.”
The United States just isn’t a member state of the ICC, and in the course of the administration of former President Donald Trump it slapped sanctions on a earlier ICC prosecutor and a number of other aides for pursuing investigations into alleged conflict crimes dedicated by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and Israeli servicemembers within the West Bank and Gaza.
But for the reason that outbreak of conflict in Ukraine, the connection has shifted. Last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland stated the U.S. Justice Department is cooperating with the court docket and supporting Ukrainian prosecutors finishing up conflict crime investigation s.
While the arrest warrant towards Putin carries important ethical weight, it’s unlikely to result in him showing in a courtroom in The Hague any time quickly as a result of Moscow doesn’t acknowledge the court docket’s jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.
The visiting congressional delegation additionally consists of Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.; Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.; Thomas Kean, R-N.J.; and Bill Huizenga, R-Mich. They are additionally holding conferences in the Netherlands with Dutch authorities officers and members of parliament, amongst others.
The delegation’s Europe go to goals to bolster ties with U.S. strategic allies in addition to talk about help for NATO and Ukraine, methods to carry Russia accountable for its actions in Ukraine, and easy methods to confront shared threats from China.
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This story corrects that Ann Wagner is a Missouri Republican.
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Follow AP’s protection of the conflict in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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