Tribunal for Russian criminals will not be like previous ones - Head of VR Committee

This was stated by Denys Maslov, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy, member of the working group that is working on the creation of a special tribunal, in an interview with Ukrinform.

"The tribunal for Russian criminals definitely cannot be a compilation of the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals for several reasons. Firstly, the previous tribunals were established only after the defeat of the aggressor country and the detention of its leadership," Maslov noted.

The politician emphasized that Ukraine cannot wait for the end of the war and the overthrow of Putin's regime to bring criminals to justice, because "the idea of our tribunal is that it was created during the aggression of the Russian Federation."

At the same time, the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals were established before the International Criminal Court, which currently has jurisdiction over various categories of crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

"But there is a gap in jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. We are striving to fill this gap by establishing an appropriate tribunal," emphasized Maslov.

In particular, a special feature of the tribunal for the prosecution of Russian criminals is the creation of the International Center for the Prosecution of Crimes of Aggression against Ukraine.

According to him, the Center was created to fulfill the tasks of collecting and preserving evidence confirming the actions of officials, military personnel and mercenaries of the Russian Federation in committing aggression against Ukraine.

"This evidence is currently being collected not only on the territory of our country, but also in partner countries, European countries, the United States of America and even in Russia. Among them are public statements by representatives of the Russian authorities, geolocation, interception of telephone conversations and decryption of communications of military units that invaded the territory of the Ukrainian state, photographs, data from social networks and eyewitness accounts," the chairman of the parliamentary committee said.

It is noted that in the future, all this evidence will be used to formulate a draft indictment, which will be considered by a specially appointed prosecutor of the tribunal.

In turn, the prosecutor will also consider all the evidence from the center and its international investigation team, evaluate it, make adjustments if necessary, and then defend the charges against specific individuals: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, commanders of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, specific units that gave and executed orders to invade sovereign Ukraine, seize administrative buildings, bomb cities, torture and kill civilians.

The MP explained that the charges will be based on evidence and established causal links between the official duties of the person, his or her actions and the consequences that followed - the crime of aggression.

"It is important to note that the responsibility for the crime of aggression will be borne by specific individuals, not the country as a whole," summarized a member of the working group that is working on the establishment of a special tribunal. 

As Ukrinform previously reported, the option of creating a special tribunal for Russian criminals in a hybrid form would not suit Ukraine.