Justice stronger than Kremlin walls - Zelensky in The Hague
The international community must ensure that every potential aggressor is held to account. And everyone who comes to power in Russia after Putin should know that justice is stronger than the Kremlin walls.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine stated this in a video address to the ministerial conference in The Hague "Restoring Justice for Ukraine".
"Justice is the very line from which the movement towards secure peace may begin. Weapons give physical protection, but it is justice that restores the sense of security to life that was protected with the strength of weapons. And justice also brings back the sense of predictability to all global relations. Every potential aggressor should know what awaits him if he ruins peace. It is justice that can ensure this," he said.
The president noted that two days ago he was in Bucha in Kyiv region, which has become "a symbol of Russian evil for the entire world." According to the Ukrainian leader, it has not yet been possible to establish the names of all civilians whom Russian soldiers killed in the town, as well as in many other Ukrainian communities liberated from Russian occupation.
"Although various cities and villages are gradually being restored, each of them has a specific feeling – the same for all of them – a feeling that there is still a lot of work ahead – the work precisely for the sake of justice. So that evil finally loses both physically, in reality, at the battlefield, and so that people feel it convincing in their hearts. Just for everyone who comes to power in Russia after Putin to know that justice is stronger than the Kremlin's walls. Only our common work can ensure this,” he said.
Against this background, he praised the efforts of the International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant for Vladimir Putin's arrest and is working to restore full justice.
The Ukrainian leader also pointed to the importance of ongoing work on creating "concrete systematic tools to compensate for the damages caused by this war." "Together with many countries and leaders we cooperate on confiscating Russian assets and profits from them. All this should work for the people whom Putin tried to destroy with this war," he added.
The Ukrainian head of state urged the participants of the conference in The Hague "not to deviate from our common line - the line of justice."
"And I ask you not to slow down the pace. We have to do everything possible for the strength of justice so that justice provides real strength to our common security – security from aggressions and terror. Let the real peace be restored faster. And let everyone who destroys peace be truly afraid of facing trial in the Hague," Zelensky emphasized.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba is on a working visit to The Hague on April 2 to participate in the ministerial conference "Restoring Justice for Ukraine".
The event is co-organized by Ukraine, the Netherlands, and the European Commission. Among the participants are the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, President of Eurojust, representatives from the International Register of Damages Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (RD4U), and the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA).
A political declaration will be adopted at the end of the conference.