The Guardian said in a report that parliament members of the Ukrainian government voted to send their fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych to stand trial at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands over the violence that occurred in an otherwise peaceful protests held in Kiev last week. Investigative journalists reportedly found evidence at Yanukovych's extravagant mansion that supported claims that he ordered a forced clearing of protesters in Independence Square.
The UK paper said that Yanukovych is currently hiding in Crimea. The interim government of the European country is on pursuit of the fugitive president.
Nationalist Svoboda party leader Oleh Tiahnybok said about the parliament decision, "It is very important that we had a positive vote today. Now we are inviting all the people of goodwill who have any materials including video, photos or papers that we may need to properly submit to Hague tribunal the papers about crimes against people, crimes against Ukrainians, and violations of human rights that were committed by those criminals in Yanukovych's regime."
Aside from Yanukovych, the Ukrainian parliament also voted to prosecute former interior minister Vitali Zakharchenko and the prosecutor general Viktor Pshonka. The pair and several of Yanukovych's aides had already fled the Ukrainian capital.
The Guardian quoted senior Washington figures who said that Yanukovych consulted with US vice president Joe Biden for around an hour in the days ahead of his fleeing from the Ukrainian capital. According to the unnamed US officials, Biden thought that Yanukovych was defiant about the reports that the forced clearing of the protesters in Independence Square was sanctioned by him and insisted that the protesters were the ones who created such acts of terrorism. Biden allegedly warned Yanukovych to be careful of his decisions with regard to the political protesters in the capital.
When asked by Reuters about the government of Ukraine's plans to send Yanukovych at its headquarters for a trial, spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said they have yet to receive such a request from the country nor request to probe the violent events in Kiev. "A government can make a declaration accepting the court's jurisdiction for past events," he added.
