UPDATE - Ukraine’s Zelenskyy proposes draft bill on ratification of Rome Statute to parliament

ADDS FURTHER BACKGROUND

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday proposed a draft bill ratifying the Rome Statute to parliament.

The draft bill, which was published on the official website of the Verkhovna Rada or the country's parliament, has been marked as received.

A corresponding explanation note on the draft bill says among the reasons behind its submission is to bring the provisions of Ukraine’s Criminal Code into “compliance with the norms of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”

“In the conditions of the international armed conflict with the Russian Federation, bringing the provisions of Ukrainian legislation on criminal liability into compliance with the requirements of international criminal law is an extremely important issue that needs to be resolved,” the note further said.

The Rome Statute of the ICC, adopted in 1998 in Italy's capital, is the treaty that established the international tribunal seated in The Hague.

The treaty was signed by 124 countries since its adoption, including by Ukraine in 2000, though Kyiv has not ratified it yet.