Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset signed an agreement on June 25 to establish a Special Tribunal to investigate Russia’s crimes of aggression against Ukraine.
The agreement to establish a special tribunal on crimes of aggression was signed at the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg during Zelenskyy’s first visit to the organization, as reported on the official website.
Prior to that, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe officially authorized Berset to sign the agreement.
The future special tribunal will allow investigations to be conducted against the highest leadership of the Russian state, which is usually protected by personal immunities, but sentencing will only be possible after they have lost their positions.
“Ukraine and the Council of Europe have signed an agreement to establish the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. This historic signature reminds us that international law must apply to all — with no exceptions, and with no double standards,” said Secretary General Alain Berset. “This is a tribunal to judge between victims and aggressors, between impunity and accountability, because without accountability, there can be no lasting peace for Ukraine and Europe as a whole. “
The Chair of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, Ian Borg, Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, stated:”Today’s agreement is living proof that genuine international cooperation, grounded in legal clarity and political courage, can achieve what once might have seemed improbable. The Council of Europe’s swift, principled, and unwavering response has reaffirmed its enduring relevance and moral authority, in Europe and well beyond.”
In addition, the tribunal will have international legal personality rather than the status of a hybrid or national structure. It is based on Article 8 bis of the Rome Statute of the ICC, supplemented by the criteria for aggressive war from UN General Assembly Resolution 3314.
It is also envisaged that the tribunal will be able to pass sentences even in the absence of the accused, in particular against the political and military leadership of Russia, and potentially also Belarus and North Korea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked Parliamentary Assembly for “real leadership” in its stand against Russian aggression and hailed Europe’s commitment to justice in an address to the Assembly just after the signature of an agreement to create a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
“It will take strong political and legal co-operation to make sure every Russian war criminal faces justice – including Putin. This is the path we must walk – all the way to real charges and real verdicts,” he said.
Senior legal experts from a “core group” of around 40 states worked together with the Ukrainian authorities, the Council of Europe and the EU to draft the three legal instruments needed to establish the Tribunal.
“The aggressor must lose. We’re working on that. But justice matters too. It must work – so that war criminals have nowhere to hide, not in Europe, not anywhere. And in a way that sets a legal principle – NO rewards for aggression,” the Ukrainian President declared.
As reported earlier, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe launched the legal procedure for the creation of the Special Tribunal on May 14. Prior to that, the process received political approval at a special summit in Lviv, Ukraine, on May 9.
The Council of Europe’s priority work on Ukraine, a member state since 1995, includes the Register of Damage – which has already received more than 34,000 claims – and on-going work to establish both a Claims Commission and the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression.
The European Court of Human Rights is also the only international court adjudicating human rights violations in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
