The launch of the Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine will take place in three stages. Currently, the process is at the stage of preparing for the conclusion of an expanded partial agreement on the Special Tribunal's steering committee. This was announced by Anton Korynevych, director of the international law department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the IV conference "Compensation for damage caused by aggression: law & war," UNN reports.
At what stage is the creation of the Special Tribunal?
"We have already signed an agreement on the creation of a special tribunal between Ukraine and the Council of Europe. The Verkhovna Rada ratified this agreement. On July 17, the law on ratification entered into force. Now we are at the stage of preparing for the conclusion of an expanded partial agreement on the steering committee of the special tribunal," Korynevych said.
He explained that an expanded partial agreement is a special form of agreement that exists only in the Council of Europe.
Some states do not consider it an international treaty and can implement it directly based on a government decision, as, for example, Poland will do. For Ukraine, this expanded partial agreement, according to our legislation, will be considered an international treaty. That is, we will need to accede to it-
He emphasized that the most important fixed idea now is to launch this expanded partial agreement as soon as possible.
"It is expected that the launch of the Special Tribunal will take place in three stages. The first stage will be the so-called advance team – a small number of people who will work on the organizational and administrative launch of the special tribunal. The second phase is a tribunal that will exist as an organization but will not yet exercise its judicial jurisdiction. The third stage is a full-fledged tribunal that will exercise its jurisdiction," Korynevych explained.
The value of the Special Tribunal for Russia's crimes
"The issue of the special tribunal is a matter of individual criminal responsibility for the crime of aggression against Ukraine... The value of the special tribunal is that it will be able to issue verdicts and decisions that will confirm that Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine is criminal, unlawful, and illegal. Thus, these decisions, the corresponding verdicts, can be a good basis for moving forward on the issue of confiscation of sovereign assets, sovereign immunities for moving forward," Korynevych stated.
He noted that the special tribunal does not claim the issue of confiscation as a type of punishment.
"When finalizing the work on the text of the statute of the special tribunal, we worked in close coordination with the team of the Ministry of Justice, the Office of the President, and people's deputies. We laid down those points so that it would be clear that the special tribunal does not claim the issue of confiscation as a type of punishment. Punishment is deprivation of liberty.
Everything related to compensation for damages will be decided by the compensation commission and, accordingly, the international compensation mechanism as a whole," Korynevych said.
Addition
The President's Office reported that work is underway on an expanded partial agreement on the creation of a Special Tribunal for Russia's crimes of aggression. It may begin its actual activities by the end of this year.