PACE calls for setting up int’l tribunal to investigate, prosecute Russian crimes of aggression

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted a resolution proposing that an ad hoc international tribunal investigate and prosecute the crimes of Russia's military aggression in Ukraine.

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, 115 lawmakers voted for the move, with none opposing the document.

The resolution states that both the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation and those who committed the crimes must be held to account.

In particular, the PACE calls for setting up an ad hoc international criminal tribunal, which, among other things, should be empowered to investigate and prosecute the crime of aggression, allegedly committed by the political and military leadership of Russia. The tribunal should also be entitled to issue international arrest warrants without being limited by the immunity of states or heads of state and government and other public officials.

The tribunal should be established by a group of like-minded states in the form of a multilateral treaty endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly and with the support to be provided by the Council of Europe, the European Union, and other international organizations.

The tribunal should be headquartered in Strasbourg, France, in view of possible synergies with the European Court of Human Rights, which is dealing with numerous related individual and interstate applications.

The document calls on the UN General Assembly to support the establishment of such an ad hoc international tribunal. The resolution also calls on the UN International Court of Justice to provide an advisory opinion on any limits that may be imposed to the veto rights of permanent members of the UN Security Council based on general legal principles of the prohibition of the abuse of rights and the duty of members of international organizations to exercise their membership rights in good faith.

Also on the initiative of the Ukrainian delegation, the PACE resolution proposed to use the assets of Russian citizens subject to sanctions for their involvement in the war of aggression launched against Ukraine by Russia, as soon as these assets are fully seized, to compensate Ukraine and its citizens for any damage inflicted by the war of aggression waged by Russia.

The resolution was adopted following the PACE debate based on a report by Alexander Pociej, Representative of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights (Poland).

A large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has been going on since February 24. The aggressors have been shelling and destroying key infrastructure facilities, residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages.