Ukraine’s Parliament voted yesterday to send fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych to be tried by the International Criminal Court for “serious crimes” committed during violent anti-government protests in which scores were killed.
A resolution, overwhelmingly supported by the assembly, linked Yanukovych, who was ousted on Saturday and is now on the run, to police violence against protesters which it said had led to the deaths of more than 100 citizens from Ukraine and other states.
The Hague-based court said it would need a request from the government of Ukraine giving it jurisdiction over the deaths.
With early elections set for May 25, one of Ukraine’s most prominent opposition figures, retired world boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko, confirmed he would run for president.
Yanukovych was indicted for “mass murder” on Monday over the shooting of demonstrators and is now on the wanted list, having last been seen at Balaclava in Crimea, near Russia’s Sevastopol naval base.
An aide believed to be on the run with Yanukovych was shot in the leg, his spokesman said. It was not clear where the aide, Andriy Klyuev, was, or whether he was with the fugitive leader. The assembly resolution said former interior minister Vitaly Zakharchenko and former prosecutor-general Viktor Pshonka, who are also being sought by the authorities, should also be sent for trial at the ICC. “Parliament asks the International Criminal Court to hold Viktor Yanukovych and other high-level people criminally responsible for issuing and carrying out openly criminal orders”, the resolution said.
Authorities under Yanukovych had systematically abused their power. Police tortured protesters, including holding activists naked in temperatures of 15 degrees below freezing, the resolution said.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court, which since its founding in 2002 has handled only cases from Africa, said it could intervene if Ukraine requested it to.
Ukraine never signed the treaty that created the ICC, meaning the court has no automatic jurisdiction over recent events in the country. If the government formally invites it in, however, the court would have the power to investigate.
Ukraine’s Parliament meanwhile put off plans to vote on the formation of a national unity government until tomorrow to allow consultations to continue.
In Independence Square, the crucible of Ukraine’s revolution, hundreds of people milled around showing no sign of ending the protest they hope will be used to hold their new rulers to account.