Shmyhal: Political decision being made today, next step is to launch legal procedure for establishing Special Tribunal
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says that the launch of the legal procedure for establishing the Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine will be made in the near future.
"The Putin regime killed 616 and injured over 1,800 children. It deported over 19,000 more children to Russian territory. Mass executions of civilians and inhuman treatment of prisoners of war are also a common trait of the Nazis and racists. Ukraine has recorded over 167,000 crimes of aggression and war crimes committed by Russia. Each of them has its own name. And it is important that these people answer for criminal orders and for their execution. Ukraine is already doing this work," Shmyhal said at a meeting of the Coalition of States to Create a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine on Friday in Lviv.
According to him, to date, 735 people have been suspected of war crimes, 471 cases have been transferred to court, there are 241 verdicts, and suspicions have also been announced against 40 high-ranking Russian officials.
"Thus, 40 countries have joined together in a coalition to create a special tribunal for this purpose within the framework of the Council of Europe. A new Nuremberg for the Kremlin. The main task of the Special Tribunal is to investigate, prosecute and try cases against persons who bear primary responsibility for the crime of aggression against Ukraine," Shmyhal said.
The Prime Minister said a political decision is being made today to approve the work of the legal teams of the coalition member states, and the next step is to launch the legal procedure for creating the tribunal, which will be done in the near future.
"I thank the Dutch government for its willingness to place it in The Hague," he said.
As sources told Interfax-Ukraine, the future special tribunal will be able to investigate cases against the so-called "triple" - Putin-Lavrov-Mishustin – up to the stage of issuing an indictment by the prosecutor. That is, the prosecutor of the tribunal will form an indictment, make a public statement that the " triple" is guilty of committing the crime of aggression, the indictment will be sent to the pre-trial judge and the process will be suspended while the "triple" is in their positions. But as soon as they leave their positions, the trial process will automatically resume. If these people do not physically appear in the dock, the trial will be in absentia.
Alexander Lukashenko and Kim Jong-un will also be in the field of view of the tribunal, but not the Iranian authorities: there is no legal component of the crime of aggression by Iran as such, because aggression is not about the supply of drones and missiles.
The "Twenty" of the top military-political leadership of the Russian Federation - Medvedev, Shoigu, Naryshkin, Gerasimov, Bortnikov, Zolotov, and others – will have no immunities: both investigation and sentencing will be entirely possible.