Brussels wants EU judicial agency to take greater role in Ukraine war crimes probe

euronews.com:

The European Commission on Monday called for Eurojust's mandate to be strengthened to facilitate investigations into possible war crimes in Ukraine.

The European Union's executive branch wants the agency — which coordinates judicial cooperation between member states' national authorities to prosecute transnational criminal activities including human trafficking, smuggling, terrorism and cybercrime — to be able to collect and store evidence of alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

It would also be able to process the data including videos, audio recordings and satellite images, and share the evidence with the relevant national and international authorities, including the International Criminal Court.

"Since the start of the Russian invasion, the world has been witnessing the atrocities committed in Bucha, Kramatorsk and other Ukrainian cities. Those responsible for the war crimes in Ukraine must be held accountable," Didier Reynders, EU Commissioner for Justice, said in a statement.

"To this end, we must ensure that evidence is safely preserved, analysed and exchanged with national and international authorities, including the International Criminal Court," he added.

Marialena Pantazi, research assistant at the European Policy Centre at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre think tank, explained to Euronews that Eurojust's general mandate "adapts accordingly to ongoing crises" with the agency cracking down on a migrant smuggling network in 2020 or on crimes including fraud and smuggling during the pandemic.

The Commission's proposal to extend its mandate over its work pertaining to alleged crimes in Ukraine "would enable Eurojust to collect and store evidence on the crimes committed by Russia and share this information with other