Rt Hon Winston Peters

Deputy Prime Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs

6 September 2018

MEDIA STATEMENT

New Zealand welcomes the progress the United Kingdom has made in identifying the individuals accused of deploying a nerve agent in the UK, and the steps the UK is taking to bring them before the courts.

“Prime Minister May has indicated that the UK authorities have undertaken a careful and systematic inquiry,” Mr Peters said.

The UK announced that after a thorough criminal inquiry the independent Crown Prosecution Service has sufficient evidence to bring charges against two Russian nationals.

“We said from the outset of Prime Minister May announcing this investigation that we should wait for it to be completed to draw our conclusions, and we have. This is the way our shared system of justice works.

“New Zealand will continue to work with the OPCW and other countries to strengthen the ban on chemical weapons.

“Reflecting that commitment, New Zealand has recently joined the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons, launched in Paris earlier this year.

“By helping to establish responsibility for incidents where chemical weapons have been used, the Partnership, which now has around 40 members, will help to hold individuals, groups and governments to account for their actions,” Mr Peters said.

ENDS

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