THE war in Ukraine began on February 24 last year when Russian military forces entered the country from Belarus, Russia and Crimea. Prior to the invasion, there had already been eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said the invasion was a “special military operation” to protect the people of the Donbas and “demilitarise and denazify Ukraine”. He denied that Russia planned to occupy Ukrainian territory or to “impose anything on anyone by force”.

Civilian casualties in fewer than five days of the attacks numbered in the hundreds (368 killed, 469 injured). It prompted the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan to announce that he would seek authorisation to open an investigation into the “situation in Ukraine”.

He said he would closely follow developments on the ground in Ukraine, and called for restraint and strict adherence to the applicable rules of international humanitarian law.

Khan had earlier expressed his “increasing concern”, echoing those of world leaders and citizens of the world alike, over the events unfolding in Ukraine. It was part of a statement he issued within 24 hours after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Within a week, the ICC prosecutor had announced that he had opened an investigation into the situation in Ukraine with the scope of the situation encompassing “any past and present allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed on any part of the territory of Ukraine by any person from 21 November 2013 onwards”.

Within a year of the investigation, on February 22, the ICC prosecutor was able to apply for warrants of arrest, which the ICC duly issued on March 17 for two individuals: Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights.

The ICC considered there were reasonable grounds to believe that each of them bore responsibility for the war crimes of unlawful deportation and transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children.

If the unlawful deportation and transfer of children are war crimes, what about the indiscriminate killing of children in Palestine and Israel?

And what about the “complete siege on Gaza” with cutting off of electricity, food, water, and gas supplies? It is collective punishment of the Gaza population and a war crime.

In a statement on the warrants of arrest against Putin and Lvova-Belova, the ICC said: “The Chamber considered that the warrants are secret in order to protect victims and witnesses and also to safeguard the investigation. Nevertheless, mindful that the conduct addressed in the present situation is allegedly ongoing, and that the public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes, the Chamber considered that it is in the interests of justice to authorise the Registry to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the name of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants are issued, and the modes of liability as established by the Chamber.”

Yet not a statement on the current situation in the Gaza Strip. (Press releases and statements from the ICC may be viewed here)

When the world is once again witnessing atrocities committed against civilians in Palestine and Israel, where is the ICC prosecutor, asked Rebecca Hamilton, executive editor at Just Security and associate law professor  at American University, Washington College of Law.

The ICC prosecutor needs to break his silence on the situation in Palestine, said Mark Kersten, a consultant at the Wayamo Foundation and assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology at the University of the Fraser Valley.

Kersten wrote: Mr Khan, your voice matters. Please use it. Your office matters. Please act.

Issue a public statement urgently, wrote Tirana Hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch to Khan. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/13/israel/palestine-letter-prosecutor-international-criminal-court

Speak up and issue a formal statement, urged human rights organisations.

The silence of the ICC prosecutor is not the title of a new film and a sequel to “The Silence of the Lambs”, the latter title having been said to metaphorically represent the innocent victims in the film. The silence of the ICC prosecutor is “the silence emanating from the prosecutor of the ICC, Karim Khan”, which is growing louder by the hour. – October 18, 2023.

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.