At the initiative of the Criminal Court of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court, a round table was held at which judges of the Supreme Court, representatives of law enforcement agencies and scientists discussed the process of implementing the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. About this informs official website of the Supreme Court.
The main topics of discussion were:
- Application of Art. 442-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding acts committed earlier;
- The concept of “team responsibility”;
- The expediency of adopting a separate law on war crimes.
One of the important steps in this direction was the adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedural Codes of Ukraine in connection with the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.” Thanks to this, the Criminal Code of Ukraine was supplemented with new articles, including Art. 33-1, which defines command responsibility, and Art. 442-1, which regulates responsibility for crimes against humanity.
The participants of the round table positively evaluated the introduction of the article on team responsibility, but noted that the legislative regulation still needs improvement. Previously, the Criminal Code of Ukraine already provided for the possibility of holding commanders accountable for crimes committed by their subordinates, so the new article is a specification of this concept.
Regarding crimes against humanity, the issue of the possibility of applying Art. 442-1 to actions committed in the past. In this context, attention was paid to the legal decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, in particular in the case of Kononov v. Latvia.
Those present supported the improvement of the current Criminal Code instead of adopting a separate law on war crimes. Such an approach, in their opinion, is the right way for the further development of Ukrainian legislation in terms of implementing the norms of the Rome Statute.
