Britain has appointed war crimes lawyer Sir Howard Morrison as an independent adviser to Ukraine’s chief prosecutor, Iryna Venediktova, on cases arising from the Russian invasion.
The announcement was made by UK attorney general Suella Braverman.
According to the BBC, Sir Howard served as a judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for more than 12 years. During his time as a judge, Sir Howard oversaw cases such as that of the Serbian war criminal, Radovan Karadzic.
His appointment comes as Russian forces continue to be accused of violating international law by targeting civilians.
Russia denies targeting civilians and says it is carrying out a military operation against ‘neo-Nazis’ in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of committing war crimes after it launched air strikes in Kharkiv that hit an opera house, a concert hall and government offices.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor later said evidence was being collected on whether the Russian military had committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
According to the BBC, as Russia is not a member of the ICC, any Russian nationals indicted by the court would have to be extradited by the Kremlin.
It quoted Braverman as saying that in pursuing any cases arising from the Russian invasion, the ICC was the UK’s preferred option.
Answering MPs’ questions in the House of Commons, she said: ‘I will always defer and support my counterpart in Ukraine, the prosecutor general, in terms of my efforts to support her in terms of her choice of route for redress.
‘But whilst we welcome the focus on accountability, we do believe that the ICC is the right place for those responsible for committing these atrocious crimes in Ukraine to be held accountable for their actions.’
Announcing Sir Howard’s appointment, Braverman said the UK was committed to ‘showing that the atrocities we see being committed day after day in Ukraine will not be forgotten’.
The BBC reports that, on a trip to The Hague last week, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab accused Vladimir Putin of responding in ‘ever more barbaric ways’ in Ukraine and offered the ICC financial and technical help for prosecuting alleged war crimes in the country.
[Image: Chensiyuan, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73839965]