CoE takes another step toward setting up Special Tribunal

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe instructed the Secretary General to draft documents that will lead to the conclusion of an agreement with Ukraine on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Russian crime of aggression.

That’s according to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, who made the statement via X.

“I welcome today's decision by CoE’s Committee of Ministers on the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine, and I thank all of its members who supported the move," Kuleba wrote.

"This is an important practical step towards putting the tribunal into action. Each such step brings us closer to proving that justice for the crime of aggression against Ukraine is inevitable," the top diplomat stated.

Therefore, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe must now prepare the required documents to facilitate consultations in the Core Group regarding the Tribunal and the potential draft agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe on its actual establishment.

The Committee's vote also approved further work on a possible additional agreement to organize support for such a Tribunal, its funding, and other issues.

It should be recalled that the International Criminal Court, created in 2002 to consider the most heinous crimes committed across the world, has no jurisdiction over the crimes of aggression committed by Russia as the latter never signed the Rome Statute.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, in March 2023, the Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war crime of "illegal deportation" of Ukrainian children.