Another information message is sent to the Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) about crimes against cultural heritage in Crimea, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova said.

"We are sending another information message to the Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Court regarding war crimes against cultural heritage sites in the temporarily occupied territory of the Crimean peninsula," the prosecutor general said on her Facebook page on Thursday.

According to Venediktova, the Prosecutor General's Office together with experts in international humanitarian and international criminal law of public organizations Regional Center for Human Rights, Euromaidan-Crimea and the Ukrainian Association of International Law gathered a huge body of evidence of misappropriation and destruction of cultural heritage sites.

"Cultural values ​​in the museums of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as the cultural heritage located in this territory, are the property of the state of Ukraine, national wealth, an integral part of national cultural heritage and protected by national law and international law," the Prosecutor General said.

She also said that evidence of expropriation and destruction of these values ​​are being passed to the ICC, so that the ICC could add materials to its investigation, which, Venediktova hopes, could begin soon.

"The document provides evidence of large-scale destruction and appropriation of cultural heritage: the ancient city of Chersonesos Taurus and its choir; the historical environment of the capital of the Crimean khans in Bakhchisarai - Khan's Palace, Chufut-Kale; Crimean Astrophysical Observatory; Church of St. John the Baptist in Kerch," the Prosecutor General said.

Also, according to her, the information report noted numerous cases of illegal archaeological excavations and modifications of cultural values ​​in the temporarily occupied territory of the Crimean peninsula, in particular the settlements of Kermen-Burun and Sivag-Kermen.

In addition, according to Venediktova, the message describes in detail other forms of crimes committed by the Russian authorities and the occupying authorities of the Crimean peninsula: illegal trafficking in cultural objects, criminal negligence in the process of so-called "restoration" of cultural objects, illegal archaeological excavations.

The Prosecutor General reported that dozens of cultural heritage sites in Ukraine were destroyed as a result of the construction of the so-called Tavrida highway and the Crimean bridge, which contributes to the further militarization of the peninsula.

"Such actions are a serious violation of international humanitarian law and qualify as a separate type of war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court," she said.

She also said that currently law enforcement agencies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol are investigating 23 criminal proceedings on more than 100 facts of intentional destruction or damage of historical or cultural monuments, illegal search, archeological works, export of cultural values ​​from the temporarily occupied territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.