IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE ROME STATUTE IN THE NATIONAL LEGISLATION OF UKRAINE: POLITICAL OBLIGATIONS AND LEGAL WAYS OF SOLUTION

Abstract

The article is devoted to issues of Ukraine’s cooperation with the International Criminal Court, the stages of regulatory regulation of such cooperation in the investigation of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity are considered, taking into account the absence of a law on the ratification of the Rome Statute. The purpose of the article is to study the processes of European integration of Ukraine, which cover a significant range of spheres of social relations that require unification, as well as determine the expediency of joining the legal guarantees of security. Ukraine’s signing of the Rome Statute in 2000 did not end with its ratification, which was due to the conclusion of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine about the existing inconsistency of some of its provisions with constitutional norms. The implementation of the changes introduced in 2016 to the Constitution of Ukraine regarding the possibility of ratification of the RS was postponed until 2019. The beginning of the Russian military aggression prompted Ukraine to recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, in the east of Ukraine, and during the Revolution of Dignity (the “Maidan case”). The full-scale invasion of the Russian military and the consequences that Ukraine is experiencing prompted the prosecutor of the ICC to begin an investigation into war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Since the legal issues of interaction of law enforcement agencies and courts with the International Criminal Court were not resolved earlier, this caused a number of practical difficulties regarding the determination of jurisdiction, collection of evidence, activities of joint investigative teams, involvement of international experts, etc. The research methods are the analysis of international documents, normative acts of Ukraine, the comparativist method (comparing approaches to gathering evidence under national legislation and international law), the statistical method (quantitative indicators of war crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine). The results of the study revealed certain gaps in the current legislation that require further resolution. The adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and other legislative acts of Ukraine regarding cooperation with the International Criminal Court” dated May 3, 2022, in a certain way, gave answers to certain questions, at the same time, it caused discussions among scientists and practitioners about the quality of the specified law and needs in the further process of implementation of the norms of international law into the national legislation of Ukraine. The conclusion was the justification of the lack of alternatives to the ratification of the Rome Statute in order to fulfill the commitments, which will eliminate obstacles and risks in the collection of evidence and provide advantages (accelerated procedure for the initiation of an investigation by the prosecutor of the ICC, investigation of crimes of aggression, participation in the activities of the Assembly, the right to elect judges, prosecutors to the ICC , accreditation of Ukrainian lawyers and others).