Final version of statute of Special Tribunal for Crime of Aggression against Ukraine published
The statute of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine has a final version, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Iryna Mudra reported in a Facebook post on Tuesday evening.
"And today we can present the result: the Statute of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine is ready. This is a historic achievement not only for Ukraine, but also for the entire architecture of international law. A document that provides a real chance to hold accountable those who unleashed this war," Mudra wrote on Facebook.
The document was published on the portal of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Iryna Mudra listed its key provisions:
No immunities for aggressors.
Despite different positions and extremely difficult negotiations, the Statute does not mention personal immunities. Even the current heads of state of the aggressor state - the so-called "Troika" - will not escape responsibility: they will be able to receive indictments, which the Prosecutor of the Tribunal will be able to present publicly and hand them over to the judge of the preliminary proceedings. Sentencing and sentencing in absentia will be possible after the Troika leaves office;
Fully international jurisdiction.
The Tribunal will have international legal personality, not the status of a hybrid or national structure. It is an independent institution of international law, which will speak on behalf of the world in the language of international law.
The crime of aggression is clearly defined.
The basis is Article 8 bis of the Rome Statute of the ICC, supplemented by the criteria for aggressive war from UN General Assembly Resolution 3314. The concept is clear. Accountability is inevitable.
Cooperation with the ICC, not competition.
The Special Tribunal does not undermine the International Criminal Court - it complements it. Proceedings can run in parallel, and in the event of the transfer of the accused to the ICC - the process in the Tribunal is suspended.
Full-fledged absentia trials.
A separate achievement of Ukraine is the inclusion of the in-absentia mechanism. This makes it possible to obtain verdicts even without the presence of the accused (except for the current Troika while they are in office) - in particular against the political and military leadership of Russia (and potentially also Belarus and the DPRK).
Legal establishment of the truth.
The creation of the Special Tribunal is a chance for the first official international recognition of the crime of aggression by the Russian Federation since 2014. Its indictments will become the legal truth about who started this war, when and how. Just as Nuremberg did.
"For me, as a person who led the work on the creation of this Tribunal for the last year, this is personal. We went through everything: doubts, resistance, compromises, political pressure. But we preserved the main thing: Justice has no borders. And does not recognize ranks," Mudra wrote.
