Amnesty International urged France on Monday to change its law on crimes against humanity committed abroad, to ensure that it can bring to French justice possible war criminals in Ukraine or Syria, among others, and not become a land of “impunity”. “We need a change of law, a revision of the law and lifting these locks to return to universal jurisdiction which is compatible with the obligations of France”, urged Me Jeanne Sulzer, lawyer for Amnesty International France, at a press conference. .
Only the prosecutor’s office can prosecute
The translation into French law in 2010 of the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) introduced several conditions restricting the universal jurisdiction of France. To date, French justice can only take action if a perpetrator or victim of a war crime abroad is French, or if a perpetrator has his habitual residence on national territory. The law of the country where these crimes were committed must recognize war crimes and crimes against humanity. Only the public prosecutor’s office can initiate proceedings, and it must first ensure that there is no prosecution by the ICC or another competent State.
“These locks are a guarantee of impunity before the French courts for these most serious crimes”, insisted Me Sulzer. To date, seven investigations into possible war crimes committed in Ukraine against French nationals have been opened in Paris. According to Oksana Pokalchuk, director general of the NGO in kyiv, “realizing that France, which sent police and gendarmes to collect evidence in Ukraine, could become a land of refuge for war criminals because of a excessive use of its texts to prosecute the perpetrators of international crimes in France, is incomprehensible and astonishing”.
“It is important for France to carry out quality investigations”
According to the UN, 4,500 civilians have been killed in Ukraine as of June 15. “Ukraine is not capable of investigating all these war crimes. It is important for France to be able to carry out high quality investigations”, she added, believing that the French investigations could be “a message for many countries” about what is happening in Ukraine. “We must continue to fight impunity and immunity,” added Marzen Darwish, director general of the Syrian Center for Media and Human Rights.
In November, the Court of Cassation ruled that French justice lacked jurisdiction in the case of a former soldier of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, prosecuted for complicity in crimes against humanity. This decision caused an earthquake in the legal world and human rights organizations. The highest court of the French judicial order could re-examine the file in the coming months.