Will Russia be found guilty of aggression on Ukraine? The International Criminal Court will look into the matter. The Hague opens this Monday, July 3 an international office to investigate this matter. This decision is described as a first historic step by kyiv, the latter wishing the creation of a special tribunal to bring the Russian leaders to justice.
This form of prosecutor’s office has the mission of investigating and collecting evidence, with the aim of holding a trial against Russian civilian and military officials involved in the invasion of Ukraine. The International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) brings together prosecutors from kyiv, the European Union, the United States and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
It must fill “a gaping hole in accountability for the crime of aggression”, said Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, as the ICC only has jurisdiction to try this crime if the country charged with it is a signatory to the Rome Statute – the international treaty that led to the creation of this court in 2002 – which is not the case with Russia. This charge corresponds, for the ICC, to “the use by a State of armed force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State”. It allows the country’s leaders to be prosecuted.
The “crime of aggression” is similar to the notion of “crime against peace” used in the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials at the end of World War II. A special tribunal to try Russian leaders is now “inevitable”, Kotsin added during a press conference at the premises of the headquarters of the EU’s judicial agency, Eurojust, in The Hague, where the new ICPA parquet is installed. “We are gathered here for a truly historic moment – I would even say a landmark moment. »
This openness is “a clear signal that the world is united and unyielding when it comes to holding the Russian regime accountable for all its crimes,” Ukraine’s prosecutor general said. “The crime of aggression is an original sin, its commission opening the door to 100,000 other international crimes,” he continued.
The participation of the United States has added weight to the demand for the creation of a special court, even if Washington still refuses to become a member of the ICC. During Monday’s press conference in The Hague, Deputy United States Attorney General Kenneth Polite said that representatives of the United States Department of Justice had turned over an initial set of evidence to the ICPA.
Washington is “proud to stand with our European partners” in continuing “Russia’s illegal war of aggression against the Ukrainian people,” Polite continued. The United States also supports the creation of a special tribunal to bring Russian leaders to justice for the crime of aggression, he added.
EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders assured Monday that Kyiv’s allies would “stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.” “We cannot tolerate the serious violation of the ban on the use of force,” he added during a press conference at the headquarters of the EU judicial agency.
Calls for the creation of a special court dedicated to the war in Ukraine have multiplied since the offensive launched on February 24, 2022 against this country by Russia. The ICC, which is headquartered in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children.
Some of Kyiv’s Western backers fear that the special court initiative will not get enough support at the UN and argue for a hybrid court made up of judges from Ukraine and other nationalities. But “at this stage, where the trial will take place…is not important,” said Eurojust President Ladislav Hamran. “With regard to the investigation of the crime of aggression, it is important that we start now,” he added.