Guerre en Ukraine : Kiev veut un tribunal international pour juger l'agression russe.
Steph Deschamps / August 26, 2022
In the seventh month of the war, Kiev says it intends to create an international tribunal next year to try Russian President Vladimir Putin and those responsible for the invasion of Ukraine.
The court will have to decide on the crime of aggression. The plan for the creation of this court is headed by Andriy Smirnov, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration. This is the only option to quickly hold accountable the criminals who started the war against Ukraine. The best, the fastest and the most effective, Smirnov insisted in an interview with AFP.
The crime of aggression is similar to the notion of crime against peace used in the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after World War II.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already begun investigating the crimes for which it has jurisdiction - genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes - but cannot take up charges of a crime of aggression because neither Moscow nor Kiev has ratified the Rome Statute establishing it in 2010.
The world has a short memory: that's why I would like this court to start working next year, adds Andrey Smirnov, saying he is cautiously optimistic.
A lawyer by training, Mr. Smirnov says he had the idea for this special tribunal as early as February 25, the day after the invasion. It would try the political leaders, led by President Vladimir Putin, and the Russian military high command that launched the war.
Ukraine is aware that those responsible will be absent from the trial, but this court will have to exist to call a criminal a criminal and not be able to move in the civilized world, said Smirnov.
Some 600 defendants have been identified by the Ukrainians, including senior military officials, politicians and propaganda agents, said in May the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova, who has since been dismissed.