President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alan Berset have signed an agreement on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
This was announced by Yevheniya Kravchuk, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
“This is a historic decision and a historic format for the tribunal – for the first time, it is based on an international agreement with the Council of Europe,” Kravchuk wrote.
She noted that among the most important points are:
- Immunity for Russia’s top three leaders (head of state, head of government and foreign minister) is not mentioned in the tribunal’s statute – on the contrary, it is clearly stated that the position of the accused from ‘the trio’ does not exempt such a person from criminal responsibility and does not mitigate punishment.
- The Special Tribunal complements the work of the International Criminal Court, which has no jurisdiction over the crime of aggression by the Russian Federation.
- The complicit states will also potentially bear responsibility – namely Belarus and North Korea.
- The possibility of in absentia proceedings – without the presence of the defendants.
Yevheniya Kravchuk added that work is continuing on the Expanded Partial Agreement and the creation of a Steering Committee. Once this is complete, other states will be able to join, finance the tribunal, delegate judges, etc.
It is noted that the Tribunal will operate in The Hague, pending the signing of a separate agreement with the Netherlands.
Ukraine continues to work with countries that are not members of the Council of Europe but are in the Core Group, such as Japan, Canada and Costa Rica.