Ukraine and Council of Europe Sign Agreement on Special Tribunal for Russian Aggression Crime

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset signed an agreement on Thursday to establish a Special Tribunal to investigate crimes of aggression against Ukraine.

The Gaze reports on this with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on social media Х.

The agreement on the establishment of a special tribunal for crimes of aggression was signed at the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg during Zelenskyy's first visit to the organization.

Prior to that, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe officially authorized Berset to sign the agreement.

The future special tribunal will allow investigations to be conducted against the highest leadership of the state, which is usually protected by personal immunities, but sentencing will only be possible after they have lost their positions.

In addition, the tribunal will have international legal personality, rather than the status of a hybrid or national structure. It is based on Article 8 bis of the Rome Statute of the ICC, supplemented by the criteria for aggressive war from UN General Assembly Resolution 3314.

It is also envisaged that the tribunal will be able to pass sentences even in the absence of the accused, in particular against the political and military leadership of Russia, and potentially also Belarus and North Korea.

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

As The Gaze reported earlier, after more than two years of intense legal and diplomatic work, the Statute of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine has been officially finalized.