The European Commission announced on Tuesday that legal experts from several countries have laid down the foundations for the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
The Special Tribunal will be established by an agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Council of Europe and derive its jurisdiction from Ukraine. The Council of Europe will be in charge of the procedure for adoption of the draft legal instruments necessary for the establishment of the Special Tribunal and subsequent signature.
Once operational, the Tribunal will have the power to hold to account Russian political and military leaders, who bear the greatest responsibility for the crime of aggression, according to the Commission.
The discussions on how to hold Russia accountable for its war of aggression started in March 2023 with the formal establishment of a new International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. Back then, the issue of whether the crimes should be prosecuted by the International Criminal court (ICC) in the Hague or a dedicated tribunal had not yet been resolved.
As previously reported, Oleksandra Matviichuk, a well-known lawyer and human rights defender based in Kyiv, told The Brussels Times, that there already was sufficient evidence to start prosecuting Russia for its war crimes in Ukraine. She is the head of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties (CLL), which shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 together with two other laureates.
The experts also set out the key elements of the “Schuman draft Statute”, the core legal text that will govern the functioning of the Special Tribunal. The Commission also adopted a Recommendation to the Council to participate in the formal negotiations to set up an International Claims Commission for Ukraine.
The Claims Commission will be the body responsible to review, assess and decide eligible claims recorded in the Register of Damage and determine the amount of compensation due in each case. The establishment of the Claims Commission is seen as a crucial step towards the compensation of victims of the war.
"When Russia chose to roll its tanks over Ukraine's borders, breaking the UN Charter, it committed one of the gravest violations: the Crime of Aggression,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen commented. “Now, justice is coming. Justice for Ukraine. We have laid down the legal foundations for a Special Tribunal. There can also be no justice without compensation.”
Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, added that there is broad international support for the Special Tribunal and a broad commitment to accountability. “Unpunished crimes only encourage new atrocities. This is a signal to the world that no one from Russia’s leadership is untouchable.”
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
