Oral Answers to Questions

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Damien Moore (Southport) (Con)]

7. What steps his Department is taking to support an investigation into potential war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

[Mr John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

8. What steps his Department is taking to support an investigation into potential war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

[David Duguid (Banff and Buchan) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department is taking to support an investigation into potential war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend will know that, because of the Sergei Magnitsky regime for asset freezes and visa bans for anyone who has committed serious human rights abuses, we already have that capacity in place. That is on top of the further co-operation that we will provide with the ICC and, I should mention, that the Attorney General will provide with the prosecutor general of Ukraine.

[Mr Whittingdale]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, while the shelling of civilians is itself a war crime, any use of chemical or biological weapons, as predicted by President Biden today, would be a breach of the Geneva protocol and the chemical weapons convention and would most certainly be a war crime?

[Dominic Raab]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. I am always careful to allow the ICC, of which both the prosecutor and the chambers of the Court are independent, to make those determinations, but the points of principle that he has set out are absolutely right. There must be no impunity for those in Moscow or the commanders on the ground who commit those atrocities.