Create ‘aggression’ tribunal for Ukraine now: Nobel Peace winner

By Anthony Deutsch

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Ukrainian Nobel Peace price winner Oleksandra Matviichuk on Thursday called for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute leaders in Moscow for the crime of aggression, the invasion of or attempt to gain control over another sovereign state.

On the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Matviichuk, head of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties which jointly won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, said the world cannot ignore mass violations of international humanitarian law in her country.

She said a special tribunal is needed to bridge an “impunity gap” preventing the International Criminal Court, which is investigating war crimes in Ukraine, to prosecute the crime of aggression.

“We have to establish this special tribunal on aggression now,” she told Reuters in an interview. “We have to work hard to convince a two-thirds majority of the (U.N.) General Assembly members to establish such a special tribunal.”

A special ad-hoc tribunal is needed to prosecute Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko for the war in Ukraine because no other court is empowered to do so, Matviichuk said.

Failure to prosecute leaders orchestrating crimes against millions of Ukrainians would “encourage other authoritarian leaders to do the same,” she said.

Russia has denied committing atrocities or targeting civilians.

A Ukrainian official said the country’s courts have tried and convicted 26 war crime suspects since the invasion and have brought charges against nearly 300 individuals.

Ukraine’s prosecutor coordinating war crimes cases in The Hague, Myroslava Krasnoborova, said the convictions were for crimes including rape and murder, shelling of residential buildings, cruel treatment of civilians and pillaging.

So far, Ukraine has registered more than 71,000 alleged war crimes since Feb. 24, 2022, Krasnoborova said.

“This damage cannot be undone, but what we can do is to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice,” Krasnoborova said during a briefing.

Some 276 people have so far been charged with war crimes, with 99 cases currently being handled by Ukrainian courts, she said.

Dozens of countries and institutions are assisting Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies in war crimes investigations. Efforts are underway to document and prepare war crimes cases stemming from the invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

No arrest warrants have yet been issued in public by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which has been investigating possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Nick Macfie and David Gregorio)