The tribunal should take place as soon as possible: how to punish Russia for crime of aggression and genocide in Ukraine

The creation of a special international tribunal - the fastest of the possible mechanisms of holding the highest leadership of the Russian Federation, what Russia and the Russian army in Ukraine should be interpreted as genocide. And the civilized world should not close the eyes on it. All guilty must be punished.

Who should judge the aggressor state, its leadership and its citizens, which help to implement the bloody plan of the Putin regime in Ukraine? MKS as an outpost of justice? Citizens of the Russian Federation, including high -ranking officials and officers, may be judged by both the International Criminal Court (ICS) and Ukrainian courts. But the Russian leadership for this crime can only be judged by the ISS.

After all, heads of state, heads of government, foreign ministers have immunity to national courts. The ISS can investigate all crimes committed in the territory of Ukraine by Russian citizens: war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In cooperation with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the ISS collects evidence of military crimes committed by the Russian servicemen, which may subsequently become the basis of persecution for genocide.

At the same time, we also have our own proceedings on actions of the Russian Federation, which can be qualified as components of genocide. More than 350 such facts are currently registered.

These are, in particular, the murder, injury and torture of civilians on the basis that they identified themselves as Ukrainians, mass deportation of children to the Russian Federation, the use of sexual violence as weapons of war, the destruction of critical infrastructure in order to create impossible conditions, calls for genocide. We already have a lot of evidence.

In particular, incitement to the destruction of Ukrainians in rhetoric by senior officials of the Russian Federation and propagandists. Prosecutors cooperate with national and international experts to collect such evidence base by OSINT surveillance (open source -based intelligence). Do I see signs of genocide intent in the ICC? The ISS Prosecutor should answer this question. And the best answer will be the beginning of genocide proceedings. I hope this will happen in the near future.

The seriousness of the ISS intentions or on the water forks? How seriously the ISS is set to be held accountable for Russian military criminals can be judged on the following facts: first, in May 2022, the International Criminal Court sent to Ukraine its representatives to investigate military crimes of Russia. The team that arrived in Ukraine is the largest in the history of the ISS: 42 investigators, forensic experts and auxiliary personnel.

Secondly, for the first time in its history, the ISS Prosecutor's Office became part of a joint investigative group on the basis of European, together with representatives of Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic States, Slovakia and Romania. Representatives of the ISS collect evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, cooperate with Ukrainian investigators to establish the circumstances and details of what has happened.

The evidence base collected will be a reliable basis for holding all the genocide involved in the crime, regardless of their positions. Specialist terrorist-special tribunal Special International Tribunal for Aggression Crime is the only possible mechanism that will provide full and comprehensive responsibility for crimes related to Russian aggression against Ukraine for all higher military and political leadership.

Those who made criminal decisions, those who gave such orders and those who obey them. The International Criminal Court may condemn the higher leadership of the Russian Federation for the crime of genocide, but not for the crime of aggression, since the Russian Federation has not ratified the Roman Statute and does not recognize the Jurisdiction of the ISS. National courts, as noted above, can judge Russian citizens, but not higher management.

The International Tribunal will be the final element of the full and comprehensive responsibility. In addition to the ISS and national courts. Up to 20 countries support such a tribunal at the negotiation level. However, in recent months we have been heard official public statements from our international partners.

Leading international institutions have recognized Russia as a terrorist state and called for the creation of an international tribunal on the crime of aggression: the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament. The President of the European Commission Ursula von Der Lyen proposed to create a specialized court for investigation and judicial prosecution of Russia's aggression.

I am convinced that most countries of the civilized world share our position on the need to create a special tribunal. The question is only in its format. This is important not only for Ukraine, because it will be the first precedent for the crime of aggression since the Second World War. It will be an important signal for all dictators, for anyone who is tempted by the possibility of invading war that crimes against international rule of law will not remain unpunished.

The verdict of a special joint will help not only restore justice for Ukraine, but also will become the basis for maintaining peace in the future. The special tribunal with obstacles Ukraine today studies all possible ways of creating a special joint. This may be an agreement of Ukraine with the UN (adoption of the General Assembly resolution that would recommend the Secretary General to sign a special agreement with Ukraine on the creation of a tribunal) or with the EU or the Council of Europe.

It is also possible to create a tribunal according to the so -called Nuremberg model, when a multilateral international treaty between Ukraine and a number of other countries is signed. Of course, Russia will try to discredit the creation of such a tribunal. It is possible that it will try to create a tribunal parody with satellite countries. Such a threat is provided, we are working on the mechanisms of the warriors that will help prevent the abuse of this mechanism.

For example, this may be the recognition of aggression by most UN General Assembly members. By the way, the likelihood of creating a tribunal "classic" by resolution of the UN Security Council cannot be excluded. Recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has called for exclusion of the Russian Federation from the Security Council and the organization as a whole.

After all, the UN Charter does not have such a state as the "Russian Federation" - there is only a USSR, and Russia has not undergone a legitimate procedure of membership. I support this step and I know that quite serious discussions are already underway about the facts. To live, looking over the shoulder, now heard a lot of thoughts about the fact that Russian military criminals will sit in the Russian Federation after a sentence for the rest of their life or hide in loyal countries.

This risk exists. But let's look at it in the historical perspective. What processes can happen in Russia itself? How many loyal countries will remain? Eli Rosenbaum, a legendary American hunter for the Nazis, who now heads the US Ministry of Justice to investigate Russian military crimes: "There will be no reliable asylum for the perpetrators and they will have to spend the rest of their lives at least, looking back over their shoulder Finally recognized and are going to detain them.

" After the Second World War, the experience of finding the Nazis proves that there is no safe place for military criminals. The more countries support the special tribunal, the more opportunities to detain Russian military criminals we will have. So we work on it. To deliver Putin and Ko to the tribunal, all the scenarios of physical delivery to the tribunal of the leadership of the Russian Federation, which lie within the legal field, are now being considered.

Hitler, Gering and Aichman have been punished differently. Muammar Gaddafi (Libya leader in 1969-2011) did not live to court, although the ISS issued a warrant for his arrest. Saddam Hussein (Iraq President in 1979-2003) was detained and tried in the High Criminal Tribunal of Iraq. History has seen different variants of punishment of bloody dictators, but the finale of everyone is one. True justice cannot happen instantly.

The lawyers have a winged expression "The Wheels of Justice Turn Slowly, But Grind Exceedingly Fine" - "Foor justice is grinding slowly but inevitable. " Our main goal is the inevitability of punishment, so all procedures must be strictly followed. The creation of the tribunal will definitely last more than a year. Most likely a few years. The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg lasted almost a year.

From the moment as the Hague tribunal, he has charged Slobodan Miloshevich (Yugoslavia President in 1997-2000) before the trial began three years. The court itself lasted for another four years and ended with the death of Miloshevich from a heart attack. However, the tribunal is the fastest of the possible mechanisms of bringing to justice the highest leadership of the Russian Federation. It is easier to prove aggression than, say, the same crime of genocide.

The Russian aggression was recognized as a resolution of the UN, all the evidence that was carried out at the instruction of Russian President Vladimir Putin is in open sources. We try to carry out all possible preparatory procedures in advance to speed up this process as much as possible.

To do this, we work with international partners the idea of ​​Interim ProseCutor's Office, a Provisional Office of the Prosecutor's Office, which will physically be in one of the European countries and is responsible for developing a strategy for investigating and prosecuting the crime of aggression and collecting evidence. In this way, at the time of the tribunal, we will already have the evidence collected. My personal position - the tribunal should take place as soon as possible.