Kallas on creation of tribunal for Russian crimes of aggression: Every inch of war documented, no room for impunity left
Russia's aggression against Ukraine will not go unpunished, so the creation of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression is extremely important, notes the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas.
“Every inch of Russia’s war has been documented. It leaves no room for doubt in Russia’s manifest violation of the UN Charter. It leaves no room for impunity. Russia’s aggression will not go unpunished,” Kallas said at a briefing in Lviv on Friday.
According to her, final political support for the creation of a special tribunal for crimes of aggression will be provided immediately after the meeting in Lviv on Friday. “The Special Tribunal will ensure that those most responsible for the aggression against Ukraine are held accountable,” the EU High Representative said.
Kallas noted that Lviv was the birthplace of lawyers Raphael Lemkin, who authored the Genocide Convention, and Hersch Lauterpacht, who developed the concept of crimes against humanity. She also distinguished Professor Philippe Sands, whose proposal to create a tribunal for crimes of aggression laid the foundation for current efforts to hold Russia accountable.
As reported with reference to sources of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the tribunal will be created when Ukraine signs an agreement with the Council of Europe and ratifies it. Cooperation agreements are also needed for the tribunal to function fully. The Netherlands will separately sign an agreement on the establishment of headquarters (host state agreement), since the tribunal will be physically located in The Hague - the world capital of international law.
It will be based on the territorial jurisdiction of Ukraine, because Ukraine is the only possible source of jurisdiction (the Council of Europe does not have its own criminal jurisdiction) - as a state-victim of aggression, on whose territory the crime of aggression is committed. The tribunal will not act on behalf of the entire international community as a whole, but its applicable law is international, which makes the tribunal itself international.
The new international judicial body will not be dependent on Ukraine, the Netherlands or the Council of Europe and will be able to independently enter into all legal relations with states and private entities. Thus, the special tribunal for aggression is definitely not part of the Ukrainian judicial system.
The essence of the tribunal will be full-fledged proceedings in absentia and sentences of an independent judicial institution. This will confirm the fact of aggression in the legal field and provide an opportunity to demand compensation for the years of war. Thus, the words about the inevitability of punishment of the enemy for the crime of aggression will be legally supported.
The proceedings in the International Criminal Court and the Tribunal for Aggression will proceed in parallel, and these two international judicial bodies will cooperate. At the same time, the ICC will have priority over the Special Tribunal: proceedings in the Special Tribunal will be stopped if the person whose case is being considered by the Tribunal is physically transferred to the ICC detention centre.
The tribunal is expected to begin functioning organizationally in The Hague in 2026 and will begin investigating cases of aggression by the end of that year.