Lithuania will continue to remain a leading country, promoting the implementation of new legal tools in the war-torn Ukraine
In a meeting with Eurojust President Ladislav Hamran, Minister of Justice Ewelina Dobrowolska discussed the role of this new institution in the context of the war in Ukraine, discussed the importance of creating a legal mechanism to confiscate the income from the frozen assets of Russia and its entities and use them to compensate for damages and rebuild Ukraine.
“The brutal aggression against Ukraine continues to influence EU policy-making and international cooperation in the field of justice. Today, the most important goal of all our member states and EU institutions is to unite efforts to apply new legal tools in the context of military aggression in Ukraine. At the same time, E. Dobrowolska emphasized during the meeting to look for opportunities to create a legal mechanism that would enable the use of pajamas from the frozen assets of Russia and its entities to compensate for damage and rebuild Ukraine.
According to the Ministry, the role of Eurojust is important in the context of the war in Ukraine, therefore the measures discussed in today’s discussion, the maximum efforts in collecting evidence of war and other serious crimes, the database being created by Eurojust to collect evidence of international crimes in Ukraine will contribute to the faster inevitable victory of justice against impunity.
Ladislav Hamran emphasized that Lithuania is one of the leading countries, the first to take legal initiatives in the face of the war in Ukraine.
According to E. Dobrowolska, Lithuania will continue to remain a leading country promoting the implementation of new legal tools in the context of aggression in Ukraine. Our country has repeatedly advocated the need to establish special tribunals and use legal mechanisms to implement states’ obligations to international law and to ensure the criminal responsibility of the regimes of Russia and Belarus. We hope that the debate on the establishment of such a tribunal continues and will produce tangible results in the near future.
Lithuania’s initiatives after the beginning of Russia’s acts of aggression against Ukraine
in 2022 February 28 Lithuania was the first to use the possibility of Article 14 of the Rome Statute and asked the International Criminal Prosecutor to open an investigation into the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russia and Belarus. Understanding the challenge and workload, with a lot of this Court, Lithuania also allocated an additional 100 thousand. euros for the activities of this Court.
in 2022 March 1 Minister of Justice Ewelina Dobrowolska to the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania with a request to evaluate the aggression carried out by the leaders of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus towards Ukraine. The Lithuanian Criminal Code provides for liability for the crime of aggression and can prosecute the persons responsible for it, based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, and try them in absentia. This investigation has been initiated.
in 2022 March 4 At the EU Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs held last year, it was agreed that the countries strongly condemn the unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine by the aggressors and will seek to consolidate efforts to bring justice.
in 2022 May 12 The Ministry of Justice organized an international expert conference “Criminal responsibility for aggression against Ukraine. How to do justice?”.
in 2022 May 21 the Minister of Justice is officially considering the Justice Commissioner of the European Commission and the Minister of Justice of the EU Member States calling for the establishment of a special tribunal at the EU level to ensure the international criminal responsibility of the dictators of Russia and Belarus and other persons who planned and led the aggression in Ukraine. Since then, this issue has been consistently examined in the Council of the EU and in the working group of representatives of the United Nations.
in 2022 July 22 Lithuania submitted a request to join the case of the International Court of Justice, initiated according to Ukraine’s statement in 2022. on February 26. In this way, Lithuania will contribute to the interpretation of international law in order to correctly apply the Genocide Convention.
in 2022 August 12 The request of the Republic of Lithuania for permission to intervene in the case in Ukraine against the Russian Federation as a third party was delivered to the European Court of Human Rights.
The announcement was made by: Dalia Milkevičienė, Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania