Special tribunal to try Russian leaders over Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy officially approved the plans to establish a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the full -scale invasion of Ukraine.
The private court will be formed through an agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe, the continent’s best human rights organ.
Zelenskiy visited the Strasbourg -based organization as part of the announcement for the first time.
The special court aims to target senior Russian leaders for the “crime of aggression” that supports Ukraine’s numerous war crimes, Ukraine blames Russian forces since the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022.
The existing international courts, including the International Criminal Court in The Hague, do not have the authority to prosecute Russian citizens from this special crime.
At the beginning of the conflict, Kiev forces the creation of a private court beyond the prosecution of war crimes, including the bombing of Ukraine’s civil infrastructure, killing civilians, rape, hostages and torture. Russia rejects these charges.
There are still logistics details to be solved, including where the court will last. The Hague was proposed because of the current legal infrastructure, but the final decision was not made.
Russia does not return its own citizens and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not remain on the dock.
According to international law, the heads of state, and some other senior officials, including “Troika”, including the president of a country, the head of the government and the Foreign Minister, enjoy immunity from prosecution.
This means that Putin’s potential indictment can only progress if he leaves.
There is no limitation regulation on the offense of aggression.
The institution will be financed by supportive countries known as the Core Group, including the Netherlands, Japan and Canada.
The United States supported the project under former president Joe Biden, but President Donald Trump did not support the attempt.
