Source: Eurojust
JIT members have been busy working on a common prosecutorial strategy, which prioritises investigations into the crime of aggression, crimes of torture, ill-treatment and filtration in relation to illegal detention sites, as well as the crime of genocide.
Since March 2022, the Agency has organised 26 coordination meetings between the JIT and other national authorities investigating alleged core international crimes committed in Ukraine. This has allowed involved countries to exchange data on their respective domestic investigations, discuss strategies and priorities, and coordinate investigative measures.
Eurojust is fully committed to continuing to support the important work of the JIT, and has allocated roughly half a million euros to finance its activities.
The JIT is supported by the work of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) and the Core International Crimes Evidence Database (CICED), both of which are hosted and managed by Eurojust.
ICPA: progress made on a solid case-building package for the crime of aggression
In the last six months, the ICPA has made significant progress in compiling a solid case-building package. This package relies on a common investigative and prosecutorial strategy on the crime of aggression, agreed on by ICPA participants.
The case-building package is intended for transmission to the future office of the prosecutor of a possible special tribunal or other jurisdictions.
The ICPA has and continues to ensure the collection and preliminary analysis of potential evidence that may relate to individuals at the highest levels of military and political leadership. Investigative efforts are not limited by the official positions that individuals may hold.
As the aggression in Ukraine continues, there is a growing body of evidence that the ICPA is actively investigating.
The ICPA has received additional funding, and in January 2025, its operations were extended for six months. To this end, an amendment to the Contribution Agreement was signed between Eurojust and the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.
CICED: over 3 700 evidence files
CICED is a unique, tailor-made judicial database set up by Eurojust to preserve, analyse and store evidence of core international crimes. CICED enables the Agency to support national judicial authorities in identifying evidence located in another country that may be relevant to their own investigations. To date, over 3 700 evidence files have been submitted to CICED by 16 countries.
In January 2025, a new translation tool enabled evidence files submitted by national authorities to be translated from 19 languages into English. This game-changer has greatly accelerated the Agency’s analytical work. As a result, the database’s search function is more precise, and requests for information from national authorities can be answered more swiftly.
Eurojust has been working hard to respond to national authorities’ requests to support their investigations into core international crimes. In addition, the Agency has proactively identified files deemed useful for ongoing national investigations.
Background:
Since the outbreak of the war, Eurojust has been at the forefront of supporting accountability for Russian crimes. Just three weeks following the full-scale invasion by Russia in 2022, Eurojust supported the setting up of a JIT that now consists of Ukraine, six EU Member States, the participation of the ICC and Europol, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States.
In a fragmented and complex operational landscape, with the ongoing war and evidence spread across countries with different legal systems, the JIT allows partners to exchange information directly and in real time. It also helps JIT members to streamline their investigations, as the national authorities involved can now focus on actively building their cases.
Eurojust provides legal and analytical expertise as well as logistical and financial support to the JIT.
In February 2023, Eurojust launched the Core International Crimes Evidence Database (CICED), based on an urgent amendment of Eurojust’s mandate, following the invasion of Ukraine.
The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine (ICPA), established in July 2023, is also hosted by Eurojust and, together with CICED, supports the work of the JIT.
Since March 2022, Eurojust has actively participated in the EU Freeze and Seize Task Force set up by the European Commission to ensure the efficient implementation of EU sanctions against listed Russian and Belarusian oligarchs across the European Union. Eurojust provides operational support to the Task Force by coordinating Member States’ enforcement of Union sanctions through criminal law.
Together with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, Eurojust co-chairs the workstream on national investigations of the Dialogue Group on Accountability for Ukraine. This workstream aims to identify key challenges in core international crime cases and jointly propose solutions at the policy level, for example on the use of open-source evidence in the investigation and prosecution of international crimes in the context of Ukraine.
More information:
For more information on the various actions taken by Eurojust since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, please consult our dedicated webpage.