"The last time the international community tried the highest representatives of the political and military leadership of the aggressor state, it was the international military tribunals in Nuremberg and Tokyo. If in 1945 the civilised international community found legal answers to how to bring criminals to justice, then we can do the same. This Special Tribunal needs to be established," the Foreign Ministry spokesperson is convinced.
The task is complicated by the fact that we are talking about an institution that has not existed for almost 80 years - there are few precedents and practices. But Ukraine is called upon to create them.
"All the tribunals we discussed have never dealt with the crime of aggression. Therefore, it is important to create a truly successful case and develop this tribunal. It is very important that the movement along this track is not only about discussions, not only about talks, but also about concrete work, concrete results that we can feel today," says the Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to him, the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) has been operating in The Hague since July 2023.
"This is the first international initiative to investigate the crime of aggression since the Second World War. And today, more than 20 prosecutors and investigators from several countries, including Ukraine, the United States, Poland, and the Baltic States, meet monthly in The Hague at Eurojust to work out a common framework for investigating the crime of aggression.
This gives us hope that the centre will develop materials that cannot be lost and should be used in court. That is, we have said "A", and we need to say "B" - we need a tribunal, a court where we can use it," Korynevych said.
He emphasises that Ukraine's efforts to bring Russia to justice are supported by 40+ countries.
"We have a Core Group of 40 states, several international organisations that met last week in Vilnius, and we already see a framework for how to create a tribunal... Now it is important to fill it with legal content. We need to work out the basis - a draft charter for the tribunal that will satisfy us as citizens of Ukraine in our desire for accountability and which is also supported by our key international partners," the Foreign Ministry ambassador said.
For two years, Ukraine has been working with international partners to bring Russia to justice, and has had successes and interim results, Anton Korynevych emphasises once again. "And it is important to talk about this," he adds.
"A Special Tribunal is an indispensable link in all these processes... Ideologically, we need a body that will make a decision on the illegality of the Russian war against Ukraine as such," he notes.
"You know, there is a very good analogy in history. On 13 January 1942, the states whose governments were working in exile in Britain gathered in St James's Palace in London. They signed the St James's Declaration on the Responsibility for War Crimes of States and All Their Leaders. Then it was said that a court, a tribunal, should be set up to try the criminals.
So, first of all, I am sure that this tribunal can be created during the war. Secondly, and more importantly, we need to work in this direction today. Because we have to be ready for day X. When Day X comes, we must have everything fully ready to launch the mechanism," the Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summed up.
