The Hague, 24 February 2025
The national authorities participating in the Eurojust-supported Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on alleged core international crimes committed in Ukraine have interviewed 4,000 witnesses, in addition to over 40,000 interviews conducted by Ukrainian authorities. Through close cooperation between the JIT parties—comprising the national judicial authorities of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Ukraine—the Lithuanian Prosecution Service has issued Notices of Suspicion in absentia against six suspects. Additionally, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has issued a Notice of Suspicion against another individual for war crimes committed against a civilian.
JIT members have prioritized investigations into the crime of aggression, crimes of torture, ill-treatment and filtration in relation to illegal detention sites, and the crime of genocide.
Since March 2022, Eurojust has organized 26 coordination meetings between the JIT and other national authorities investigating alleged core international crimes in Ukraine. These meetings have facilitated data exchanges, strategic discussions, and coordinated investigative measures among participating nations.
Eurojust remains fully committed to supporting the JIT and has allocated approximately half a million euros to finance its activities. The JIT benefits from 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 hosted and managed by Eurojust.
ICPA: Progress on a Case-Building Package for the Crime of Aggression
Over the past six months, the ICPA has made significant progress in compiling a comprehensive case-building package based on a common investigative and prosecutorial strategy agreed upon by its participants. This package is designed for transmission to the future office of the prosecutor of a potential special tribunal or other relevant jurisdictions.
The ICPA ensures the collection and preliminary analysis of potential evidence implicating individuals at the highest levels of military and political leadership, irrespective of their official positions. As the war continues, the ICPA continues to amass a growing body of evidence.
In January 2025, the ICPA received additional funding and its operations were extended for another six months following an amendment to the Contribution Agreement between Eurojust and the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.
CICED: Over 3,700 Evidence Files Collected
CICED, a specialized judicial database developed by Eurojust, is designed to preserve, analyze, and store evidence of core international crimes. The database facilitates the identification of relevant evidence across jurisdictions, assisting national authorities in their investigations. To date, over 3,700 evidence files have been submitted to CICED by 16 countries.
A new translation tool introduced in January 2025 allows evidence files submitted by national authorities to be translated from 19 languages into English. This advancement has significantly accelerated Eurojust’s analytical processes, enhancing the database’s search functions and expediting responses to national authorities’ requests for information.
Eurojust continues to provide extensive support to national authorities investigating core international crimes, proactively identifying relevant files for ongoing investigations.
Since the onset of the war, Eurojust has played a leading role in ensuring accountability for Russian crimes. Within three weeks of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Eurojust supported the establishment of a JIT, now comprising Ukraine, six EU Member States, the International Criminal Court (ICC), Europol, and a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States.
Given the ongoing conflict and the complexity of gathering evidence across various legal systems, the JIT enables real-time information exchange and streamlined investigations. Eurojust provides essential legal, analytical, logistical, and financial support to the JIT.
In February 2023, Eurojust launched CICED following an urgent amendment to its mandate in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The ICPA, established in July 2023 and also hosted by Eurojust, further strengthens the JIT’s work alongside CICED.
Since March 2022, Eurojust has been an active participant in the EU Freeze and Seize Task Force, established by the European Commission to enforce EU sanctions against Russian and Belarusian oligarchs. Eurojust plays a crucial role in coordinating Member States’ enforcement of these sanctions through criminal law mechanisms.
Additionally, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, Eurojust co-chairs the national investigations workstream of the Dialogue Group on Accountability for Ukraine. This workstream addresses key challenges in prosecuting core international crimes and develops policy solutions, including the use of open-source evidence in international crime investigations related to Ukraine.
Through these initiatives, Eurojust continues to strengthen the legal framework for justice and accountability, ensuring that perpetrators of war crimes and other grave offenses in Ukraine are held responsible.
