Ukraine and Council of Europe sign agreement on Special Tribunal for Crime of Russian Aggression

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset signed an agreement on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine on 25 June.

Source: European Pravda

Details: The agreement on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression was signed in the building of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg during Zelenskyy's first visit to this institution.

Prior to this, the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers officially authorised Berset to sign the agreement.

The future special tribunal will allow investigations against the highest-ranking leaders of the state, who would typically be protected by personal immunity. However, sentencing and conviction will only be possible after they have lost their positions. 

Moreover, the tribunal will have international legal standing rather than the status of a hybrid or national structure. Article 8 bis of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court will serve as its base, supplemented by the criteria for aggressive war outlined in UN General Assembly Resolution 3314.

The tribunal is also expected to be able to pass sentences even without the presence of the accused, including in cases against the political and military leadership of Russia and potentially Belarus and North Korea.

Background: The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe launched the legal procedure for establishing the Special Tribunal on 14 May. Prior to that, the process had received political approval at a special summit in Lviv on 9 May.

Read also: Trial for Lavrov and Putin: all about the tribunal for Russia that received Europe's blessing

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