At a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Chișinău, 36 countries and the European Union expressed their intention to join a new Enlarged Partial Agreement on the establishment of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
As reported by Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet Pavel Latushka, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha directly named Alyaksandr Lukashenka among those falling under the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
“These states have taken a decisive step toward the actual establishment of the Special Tribunal and the recognition of responsibility for aggression against Ukraine. The Special Tribunal represents justice and hope. Now action must be taken to fulfill this political commitment by ensuring the functioning and financing of the Tribunal. The time when Russia must be held accountable for its aggression is rapidly approaching. The path before us is the path of justice, and justice must prevail,” Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset said at the meeting.
He called on states to complete all necessary national procedures for joining the Special Tribunal as soon as possible.
The tribunal will investigate, prosecute and try individuals bearing primary responsibility for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Its aim is to fill the jurisdictional gap of the International Criminal Court and hold senior officials accountable for involvement in the crime.
“The moral foundations of Europe and the world will be restored only when the crime of aggression against Ukraine is punished. This is not a question of the past. It is a question of the future. A question of restoring a shared space of truth, justice and trust,” Andrii Sybiha said.
Latushka stressed that the outcome was also the result of the work of the Coordination Council delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. According to him, PACE sessions adopted resolutions that shaped the framework of the tribunal with jurisdiction allowing Lukashenka to be held accountable.
The amendment extending the tribunal’s jurisdiction to alleged crimes of aggression committed by the Belarusian leadership was prepared by the team of the National Anti-Crisis Management and submitted by Latushka as a Coordination Council delegate to PACE.
“Following Lithuania, Ukraine has paid Lukashenka’s ticket to The Hague, though now within the framework of another criminal process,” Latushka said.
The National Anti-Crisis Management team is collecting evidence of acts of aggression committed by the Lukashenka regime against Ukraine for submission to the Special Tribunal.
