Several government representatives said the other day that Ukraine should not ratify the Rome Statute so far. This caused surprise, to say the least, among the public and experts, for ratification of this statute is a requirement of the European Union Association Agreement.
Yurii Lutsenko, head of the pro-presidential Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, announced that “our faction will not support the signing of the Rome Statute.” But he also added: “We think it would be right to make an ad hoc decision – the way we did after the Maidan shooting – and ask for recognizing the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction over crimes against humanity on the territory of Ukrainian Donbas.”
Hanna Hopko, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a comment to The Day: “A representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office said wittingly at our inter-committee roundtable: those who oppose ratification of the Rome Statute are the people who are afraid to be tried by the International Criminal Court.
“Ratifying the Rome Statute is also a requirement of the Association Agreement, which was announced again last week. The Latvian ambassador told me this. It is a demonstration of our readiness to build a rule-of-law state in which it is possible to punish for crimes against humanity and genocide. This will also be a signal to all the powers that be.”
