Rada calls on the world to create a special tribunal for the RF

Illustration by Anton Shyshenok / hromadske

The Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution appealing to the UN, parliaments and governments of its member states, the European Union, and the Council of Europe regarding the creation of a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

The according decision was supported by 283 deputies, reports Ukrinform, citing deputy Yaroslav Zhelezniak's Telegram post.

"The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine calls on the international community of states to employ all possible and available tools and opportunities in order to put pressure on the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation, which will force the Russian Federation to abandon its armed aggression against Ukraine much sooner, as well as to use the provisions on universal jurisdiction, within the framework of its own criminal legislation, to bring to justice the persons guilty of committing the most serious international crimes on the territory of Ukraine," the appeal reads.

The Council also calls on the UN, the parliaments and governments of its member states, the EU, the Council of Europe to establish a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which will:

• have jurisdiction over the investigation and prosecution of the crime of aggression against Ukraine, allegedly committed by the highest political and military leadership of the Russian Federation;
• apply the definition of the crime of aggression enshrined in customary international law in Article 8 bis of the Rome Statute of the ICC;
• have jurisdiction over individuals who exercise effective control over or manage the political or military actions of the state;
• have the authority to issue international arrest warrants and not be limited by the absolute and/or functional immunity of heads of state and government and other state officials;
• have jurisdiction over all events since February 2014 – the beginning of the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine.

In addition, the Verkhovna Rada calls for intensifying efforts to provide full support for the establishment of such a special international tribunal by adopting relevant legal acts, as well as ensuring participation in its work, full cooperation with the future special international tribunal, allocating the maximum possible human and financial resources for its work.

We will remind you that on September 22, President Volodymyr Zelensky created a working group headed by the head of his Office, Andriy Yermak, which will work on the issue of creating a Special International Tribunal to bring to justice those guilty of aggression against Ukraine.

As IMI reported, on September 2, Media Movement – a union of Ukrainian media, journalists, and CSOs – called on the world's journalistic organizations and national media associations to condemn russian propagandists.

IMI has launched a series of publications on the Russian propagandists' media crimes in order to gather information that will help bring them to justice.