CoE chief: special tribunal for Russia could be created before year-end

This was stated by Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset in an interview with European Pravda, Ukrinform reports.

According to Berset, for the special tribunal to start its work, its structure must be created and resources provided, including by staffing it with prosecutors and judges.

The CoE  Secretary General noted that the Coalition of states involved in creating the special tribunal has already "agreed to compromises and solutions for all the important elements", after which the Council of Europe is “ready to act”, “ready to act right now”.

"The objective must be that this year we will have the negotiations, after which we will have an international agreement. And then we need to have a diplomatic conference accepting this document. This should also happen this year," he added.

Berset believes that the creation of a "tribunal for Putin" in 2025 is "ambitious."

"But we need ambition. It is not possible just to wait, because we have this problem. The crime of aggression has been recognized by the United Nations, but we don't have a tribunal. So we need to create one! Our ambition is to create the tribunal this year," he concluded.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on February 4 in Brussels, the Core Working Group of Legal Experts on the Creation of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine considered the first draft of the Statute of the future tribunal, which will lay down the foundations of its work. Further discussions on developing the document will continue with the backing of the Council of Europe.