Germany to discuss Russian war crimes prosecution with G7 - justice minister

The justice ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations will focus on ways to prosecute suspected Russian war crimes at their meeting in Berlin later this month, the German justice minister said in a media interview published on Friday.

The justice ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations will focus on ways to prosecute suspected Russian war crimes at their meeting in Berlin later this month, the German justice minister said in a media interview published on Friday. Searching for suspects and identifying potential war crimes requires "an efficient network and international coordination", Marco Buschmann told Focus magazine.

He will be joined by his counterparts from Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States on Nov. 28-29 for the conference in the German capital. Buschmann said Germany has "a high reputation worldwide for prosecuting war crimes because we actively implement the principle of 'universal jurisdiction' like almost no other country".

Under this principle, which allows courts to prosecute crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world, Germany convicted two former Syrian intelligence officers in a landmark trial against state-backed torture in Syria.