Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for the prosecution of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he accused of being a “war criminal” for launching Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy issued the call late on Wednesday after he signed an accord with the Council of Europe to set up a special tribunal to prosecute Russian officials, including Putin, for the invasion of Ukraine.
“We need to show clearly, aggression leads to punishment, and we must make it happen together, all of Europe,” said Zelenskyy after signing the accord with Council of Europe Secretary-General Alain Berset.
“It will take strong political and legal courage to make sure every Russian war criminal faces justice, including Putin,” Zelenskyy said.
Putin is already facing an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for the alleged war crime of illegally transporting children out of Ukraine.
The ICC has the jurisdiction to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, but it does not have the jurisdiction to investigate “crimes of aggression” or the use of armed force against another state.
The special tribunal is being established to one day prosecute Russia’s “crime of aggression” for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The tribunal could, in theory, put on trial senior Russian figures, including Putin.
It has not yet been decided where the tribunal would be based, but Zelenskyy said The Hague, the home of the ICC, would be “perfect”.
This is the first time such a tribunal has been set up under the aegis of the Council of Europe, the continent’s top rights body.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, previously said the special tribunal would “give Ukraine a path to justice for the top-level decision to invade its territory – a wrong that no other international court or tribunal can currently address”.
The European Council said the proposed tribunal could potentially be used to prosecute North Korean and Belarusian individuals who assisted Russia in the invasion.
The 46-member Council of Europe is not part of the European Union and members include key non-EU European states such as Turkiye, the United Kingdom and Ukraine. Russia was expelled from the body in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
Alongside its arrest warrant for Putin, the ICC is also seeking to arrest four of Russia’s top commanders for targeting civilians.
