International tribunal to hold Russia accountable would be Ukraine’s best option – expert’s opinion

The relevant statement was made by Mark Ellis, an international criminal law expert and the executive director of the International Bar Association (IBA), in an interview with Ukrinform.

“An international tribunal, created specifically for Ukraine would be the best option. But this is a challenging option,” Ellis said.

In his words, establishing a tribunal that could be seen as truly international through the UN Security Council would be the best option because, under the UN Charter, the UN Security Council has the ability to create these international tribunals, which it has done in other instances.

“But of course, the UN Security Council would not be able to do that because of Russia’s veto powers within the Security Council,” Ellis noted.

The expert mentioned that the crime of aggression violates the most sacred principle of international law, i.e. the territorial sovereignty of another country.

“The real question is how do you create an international tribunal for the crime of aggression? Should it be a UN-established tribunal? Should it be a domestic tribunal in Ukraine? Should it be an internationalised tribunal? I think those are the three interesting options – a purely international tribunal, or an internationalised one, or a domestic tribunal within Ukraine itself. I’ve always said that the crime of aggression is not a crime that Ukraine should solely prosecute because, for me, the crime of aggression violates the most sacred principle of international law - the violation of the territorial sovereignty of another country. Therefore, I have not supported having a domestic tribunal in Ukraine. Plus, a domestic tribunal, specifically created in Ukraine, would not get us over a major legal hurdle – head of state immunity, which Mr. Putin is protected by. And so, the domestic model should be dismissed,” Ellis explained.

A reminder that, during the conference on accountability for Russia’s war against Ukraine at the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine would not allow the Russian leadership to avoid responsibility for the atrocities committed during the full-scale war.