The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court opened a formal investigation into the situation in Ukraine to verify the existence of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court, therefore of War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes against Humanity. The Prosecutor has already deployed to the region a team of investigators to commence evidence-collection activities against possible perpetrators of these crimes. More importantly, he called upon the entire international community to spread the news that the Office of the Prosecutor set up a dedicated portal through which any person that may hold information relevant to the Ukraine situation, in particular witnesses, survivors and affected communities, can contact its investigators. The Institute strongly supports the request of the Prosecutor to all relevant stakeholders, including media outlets, both local to the situation in the Ukrainian state and internationally, to raise awareness of this platform in order to make publicly available the information about the existence of this portal so that as many people as possible are aware of it; by doing so, people will be able to provide useful information for the investigation, starting with the numerous war refugees who have reached safe territories in Europe. By accessing to the portal, it will be required to provide a very brief explanation of the reason for which the contact is being made. The details provided will be analysed and could lead to a direct contact with an investigator, in case of further information required, or to agree on a method of gathering information useful to the investigations. The author of the report may also choose to keep his/her identity anonymous or decide if and when he/she wants to share it with the investigators, although this will make it more difficult to use the information in a procedural manner. The information provided will be kept confidential and protected even if, afterward, once a proceeding against individual defendants has begun any information may have to be shared with the parties of the proceedings; in particular the Judges, Accused persons, the Counsel of the Accused, and the legal representatives of the victims. The Public Prosecutor’s Office recommends to:
- access the platform only through secure connections, using exclusively the address of the Court’s institutional website (https://www.icc-cpi.int then clicking on the “contact an investigator” button);
- ensure that you are not seen while accessing the platform and uploading information;
- keep the access to the platform strictly confidential, not discussing its use with anyone, either in person or by other means such as email and social media.
