The German justice minister said yesterday that Putin could not be prosecuted “as long as he is head of state”. According to him, it is also impossible to confiscate Russian assets just because they are Russian
German Justice Minister Marco Bushman told German broadcasting corporation DW that Germany was gathering evidence against Putin and others for war crimes. “An investigation has been launched into Russia’s aggression war,” he said. The justice minister added that although there is evidence, Berlin does not currently have the power to prosecute Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“From the German point of view, we can not prosecute Vladimir Putin as long as he is an active head of state,” the minister said. Bushman made the remarks at a meeting of EU justice ministers in Luxembourg. Bushman, however, said Germany was taking other paths in an effort to bring those involved in war crimes to justice.
“Germany has opened an investigation, and we are gathering evidence so we can use it in criminal proceedings later, when we catch criminals,” the justice minister said. Bushman continued, “When we get these people, war criminals, senior commanders, etc., we will have evidence against them, we will put them on trial.”
On the confiscation of property and assets from Russian oligarchs, Justice Minister Bushman said evidence was needed. “We can not simply confiscate someone’s property because it is rich and comes from Russia. But if we can prove that someone helped, or war crimes were committed, then German criminal law approves confiscation of assets, and when we can prove such crimes in a criminal case, we can seize the assets.”
However, Bushman says one thing remains a priority: “It is really important to me that we maintain our identity as a state governed by the rule of law in this conflict. Even criminals and people who do terrible things must be treated fairly and justly. Because to treat them differently means losing part of ourselves.” .