G7 agrees to set up network to investigate war crimes in Ukraine

The Group of Seven wealthy democracies G 7 agreed on Tuesday November 29 to set up a network to coordinate investigations into war crimes, as part of a push to prosecute suspected atrocities in Ukraine.

A criminal investigation of the atrocities committed in Ukraine will take years, perhaps decades. Germany's justice minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement that "we will be prepared, and we will continue for as long as it takes."

It came after a meeting of G 7 justice ministers in Berlin, which was also attended by special prosecutors of the International Criminal Court, Germany's federal prosecutor and Ukrainian justice minister Denys Maliuska.

In a joint declaration, the ministers said that G 7 countries would ensure there is a central national contact point in each state for the prosecution of international crimes.

Buschmann said that this would ensure that information on evidence and legal requirements could be shared among states and international organisations.

He said that statements from victims of sexual assault should be recorded in a way that is admissible in court so that victims would only have to give their statement once.

Buschmann, who attended Tuesday's meeting as the first gathering of its kind in the history of the G 7, has in the past touted Germany's leading role in prosecuting war crimes in other countries.

In a landmark trial in Germany, two former Syrian intelligence officers were convicted under the principle of universal competences of state-backed torture in Syria.