Deputy Prosecutor General Gyunduz Mamedov is taking part in the 19th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute in The Hague.

Prior to the Assembly, he had a meeting with Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda. ICC Prosecutor made an important announcement: the Office of the Prosecutor concluded the preliminary examination of the situation in Ukraine and as a result of thorough and independent review process the situation in Ukraine was found to meet the criteria of the Rome Statute to open an investigation. The next step in this process will be to apply to the judges of the ICC Chamber of Preliminary Proceedings for permission to investigate.

The ICC Prosecutor’s report on the preliminary examination of the situation in 2020 concludes that there are sufficient grounds to believe that the relevant crimes were committed both in the context of the situation in Crimea and in the situation in eastern Ukraine. The potential cases the OTP identified were of sufficient gravity with due regard to their scale, nature, manner of commission and impact, considering both quantitative and/or qualitative factors.

The report will be publicly presented on December 15.