Υπ. Of Justice: ‘Germany does not become a party to war’

The position of the government that Germany does not participate in the war by sending weapons or training Ukrainian soldiers was presented by the Minister of Justice M. Bushman.

Is Germany directly or indirectly involved in the war in Ukraine by sending weapons and even more and more heavily and having already started the training of Ukrainian soldiers on German soil? The issue is complex, with the views of internationalists and lawyers varying. For the German government, things seem to be clear. This was shown by the legal justification for the deployment of heavy weapons and consequently the training of Ukrainian soldiers by the Minister of Justice Marco Bushman (from the Liberals).

According to the UN Charter, Germany is not becoming a “war zone” by sending heavy weapons to Ukraine and training soldiers to use them. “I would like to allay this concern,” he said from the podium of the German parliament, stressing that under international law the only legal war is defense – as in the case of Ukraine.

For him, “it is legally clear” that anyone who supports a country that legally defends itself by providing arms does not automatically become part of the war. International law explicitly protects the territorial integrity of states, so, as the Minister of Justice stated, Ukraine has every reason to defend it. “And if it wants to achieve that goal, we will always support it.”

“Gross violation of the Geneva Convention”

“We are facing not only an attack that violates international law, but also an invasion, a type of war that is criminal,” said Marco Bushmann. the humanitarian management of war victims. The German minister recalled Germany’s historic responsibility and that the principles of international criminal law are largely based on the work of the historic Nuremberg Trials, in which war criminals sat on the Nazi bench.

Marco Bushmann also announced the strengthening of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, in order to be able to manage in depth cases related to the trial of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the regular German judiciary. He even said that the German prosecutor’s office also supports the investigations of international courts such as the International Criminal Court.

Recently, the Bundestag Scientific Service, in a non-binding opinion, considered that from a legal point of view, sending weapons systems to a defending country is not a part of war, but the opposite can not be ruled out in the case of training foreign soldiers in Germany. Both items in this opinion have already been put into practice by the German Government. Both the “green” light for the deployment of modern armor and the training of Ukrainian soldiers at the Artillery School in Indar Oberstein for the next 40 days.

However, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht also tried to give an answer, speaking on the ZDF show Morgenmagazin, who argued that the training of soldiers in weapons sent to Ukraine is not a involvement in the war. Germany does not send troops to Ukraine, but trains soldiers, he said.

Dimitra Kyranoudi, Berlin

Source: Deutsche Welle