Ukraine wants fugitive leader to face int’l criminal court
KIEV—Ukraine’s parliament voted on Tuesday to send fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych to the International Criminal Court, while his acting successor expressed concern about “signs of separatism” in Russian-speaking Crimea.
A resolution, overwhelmingly supported by parliament, linked Yanukovych, who was ousted by the legislature on Saturday and is now on the run, to police violence against protesters which it said had led to the deaths of more than 100 citizens of Ukraine and other states.
The Hague-based court said it would need a request from the government of Ukraine giving it jurisdiction over the deaths.
With an early presidential election set for May 25, one of Ukraine’s most prominent opposition figures, retired world boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, confirmed he would run.
Yanukovych was indicted by the new authorities for “mass murder” on Monday over the shooting of demonstrators in Kiev and is now on the wanted list, having last been seen at Balaclava in Crimea, near Russia’s Sevastopol naval base.
The resolution said former interior minister Vitaly Zakharchenko and former prosecutor-general Viktor Pshonka, who are also being sought by the authorities, should also be sent for trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Parliament asks the ICC to hold Viktor Yanukovych and other high-level people criminally responsible for issuing and carrying out openly criminal orders,” the resolution said.
Ukraine never signed the treaty that created the ICC, which since its founding in 2002 has handled only cases from Africa.
However, the court could intervene if Ukraine asked it to.
“A government can make a declaration accepting the court’s jurisdiction for past events,” said court spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah.