This Tuesday, the Spanish Government formally requested the Attorney General of the International Criminal Court, and the Ukrainian Government, to investigate the murder of aid worker Emma Igual as a “war crime.” This has been confirmed from Strasbourg by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who signs both letters.
“I have sent a letter to the attorney general of the Criminal Court and another to my counterpart Dimitri Kuleba. In both cases I am writing to ask both Prosecutor’s Offices to investigate the death of Emma Igual as a war crime. I have conveyed to both parties that Spain is willing to collaborate with human, economic or whatever means are necessary. We have already sent police and forensic teams that have collected evidence for other cases, so for this one with much more reason,” said the minister. “I am in contact with his mother and father. I have conveyed this to them and we are going to try to clarify what happened until the end.”
This is the first step by the Executive so that “this crime does not go unpunished.” The Government has not asked Russia for formal explanations, even though it considers it very clear that “this death, even indirectly, is that of someone who launched an invasion war.” And the reason, diplomatic sources point out, is purely legal. “I don’t want to rush. It should be the Prosecutor’s Offices that rule on war crimes that are occurring every day. Things must be done well, clearly established responsibility determined” so that there is no impunity, they point out.
The Government thus leaves the initiative of the investigation in the two bodies that have the most experience and powers to investigate the crimes of this war and that have spent more than a year and a half accumulating evidence, documentation and all types of evidence and testimonies to be able to accuse, judge and condemn those responsible for the crimes. The materials and those ultimately responsible.