Justice Minister: Czechia wants to coordinate international war crimes investigation

The Czech Republic would like to coordinate evidence gathering with other states that are investigating war crimes in Ukraine, Justice Minister Pavel Blažek said on Monday after a meeting with the head of the International Criminal Court. Prague’s High State Attorney Lenka Bradáčová, who was also present at the meeting, said that it cannot be ruled out that war crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine will be subject to a special tribunal.

War crimes are currently being investigated on three levels – by Ukraine, by other European states and by the International Criminal Court. The subject of the meeting between ICC President Piotr Hofmański and the Czech officials was how to make cooperation across the three levels more effective. Mr Blažek said that effective coordination is necessary in order to avoid duplicity which could then in turn be used by the defence.

The Czech Minister also said that his country could try to lobby for a unified investigation within the European Union during its EU presidency which starts in July.