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EVENT IS UNDER PATRONAGE 

LOGO-OFFICE-PRESIDENT

 21 AUGUST 2023 

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

SPECIAL TRIBUNAL

FOR THE CRIME OF AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE

 JUSTICE TO BE SERVED 

Audience In Theater

Communique

of the participants of international conference
“Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Justice to be served”

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We, participants of the international conference “Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Justice to be served” gathered in Kyiv on 21 August 2023 to discuss the need to ensure accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and establish the relevant Special tribunal, have agreed as follows.

 

More than nine years ago, in February 2014, Ukraine became the victim of acts of aggression committed by the Russian Federation in a blatant denial of the foundational principle of the prohibition of the use of force against sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of another State and the right of all peoples to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. On 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion to Ukraine.

 

Today war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed during Russia’s war against Ukraine are being investigated by Ukraine and a number of other states, as well as by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The referral of the situation in Ukraine made by 43 States and the previously given Ukraine’s consent to the ICC’s jurisdiction over all crimes committed during the armed conflict since 2014 provide a solid basis for the work of the ICC.

 

While international criminal justice has important achievements in addressing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, progress concerning the crime of aggression – or crimes against peace as it was labelled during the Nuremberg Tribunal, has been very limited. Unlike for other core international crimes, the ICC faces objective difficulties in exercising jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.

 

Now the time has come to complete the architecture of international criminal justice initiated by the 1942 London Declaration. We need to fill the gap and establish a Special tribunal which would have a specific jurisdiction over the crime of aggression against Ukraine. The war of aggression Russia is waging against Ukraine is the biggest war of aggression in Europe since 1945 and the legal response to it shall be appropriate and resemble the response which the international community found to bring perpetrators to responsibility after World War II. 

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Establishment of a Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine is necessary, as currently there is no international court or tribunal that could try Russia's top political and military leadership for committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine. The creation of a Special Tribunal will close this gap.

 

Ensuring accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine is an integral part of full comprehensive accountability for violations of international law committed during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Establishment of the Special tribunal is an appropriate way to ensure accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

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Ensuring accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine is an integral part of the Peace Formula of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

 

Establishment of the Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine has already been supported by the European Parliament, Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe, NATO and OSCE, national parliaments, international and national bar associations. The need to establish a tribunal which will ensure accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine was also underlined in the European Council Conclusions, Decisions of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Reykjavik Declaration of the Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe.

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We strongly welcome start of operations of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) in The Hague and consider it to be an important step on the way towards establishment of the Special tribunal.

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We call on international community to unite efforts and work closely and together with Ukraine on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. The Special tribunal shall be a legitimate and credible justice mechanism which will be able to effectively do its job – bring to accountability representatives of the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. Establishment of the Special tribunal shall be a response of international community to blatant and flagrant violation of the UN Charter, in particular of the principle of non-use of force or threat of force by the Russian Federation. Establishment of the Special tribunal shall also play an important role in preventing future possible aggressions, as possible aggressors will see that the acts of aggression get relevant legal response. Crime of aggression committed by Russian political and military leadership against Ukraine shall not remain without appropriate legal response. Thus we call on international community to work actively and effectively to establish a Special tribunal in order to ensure accountability for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

Signatories
International Experts, Legal Professionals & Policymakers

  • Terje Einarsen – Professor of International Law, University of Bergen

  • Ralf Fücks – Director, Center for Liberal Modernity

  • Antoine Garapon – French jurist, retired judge, Doctor of Law, Secretary General of the Institute for Fundamental Studies of Justice (Paris), former juvenile judge

  • Richard Goldstone – Former judge of South Africa; first Chief Prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda

  • Gabija Grigaitė-Daugirdė – Deputy Minister of Justice of Lithuania

  • Stephan Hobe – University Professor, Director of the Institute of Air, Space and Cyber Law; Co-Director of the International Investment Law Centre Cologne

  • Klaus Hoffmann – Senior Prosecutor, member of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group

  • Wayne Jordash KC – Barrister, President of Global Rights Compliance, lead of the Mobile Justice Teams supporting Ukrainian prosecutors

  • James Joseph – Academic Lawyer, Director of The Duty Legacy

  • Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica – Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Latvia

  • Roderich Kiesewetter – Member of the German Bundestag, spokesperson on crisis prevention and foreign policy

  • Egils Levits – Special Representative of Latvia on International Law and State Responsibility; President of Latvia (2019–2023)

  • Carrie McDougall – International lawyer, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne

  • Sir Geoffrey Nice KC – British barrister; Lead UN prosecutor in the trial of Slobodan Milošević; Chair of the Uyghur Tribunal

  • Mathilde Philip-Gay – Professor of Law, Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 (France)

  • Mikołaj Pietrzak – Advocate, Dean of the Warsaw Bar Association

  • David Scheffer – Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues; Professor of International Law

  • Rein Tammsaar – Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations

  • Jennifer Trahan – Professor, NYU Center for Global Affairs; Convenor of the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression

  • Denakpon Tchobo – Co-Founder and President, Global Justice Intelligence Eyes (GJIE)

  • Dainius Žalimas – Professor at Mykolas Romeris University; former President of the Constitutional Court of Lithuania

  • Dr. Mark Ellis – Executive Director, International Bar Association

  • Dr. David M. Crane – Founding Chief Prosecutor, UN Special Court for Sierra Leone

  • Aarif Abraham – Barrister, writer and speaker specialising in public international law, international criminal law and human rights, Doughty Street International & Accountability Unit

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Ukrainian Officials, MPs, Judges & Experts

  • Oksana Blazhivska – Member of the High Council of Justice

  • Petro Bobkov – International Commission on Missing Persons

  • Maryna Bondarenko – Ukrainian judge

  • Serhii Burlakov – Judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine; Member of the High Council of Justice

  • Olga Guzhva – Consortium of the Veteran Organizations of the East

  • Oleksandr Herasymenko – President of the Institute of Political, Legal and Religious Studies

  • Oleksandr Kachura – Member of Parliament; Co-Head of the Inter-Factional Association “Tribunal for Russian Aggressors”

  • Serhii Kalchenko – Member of Parliament; Chairperson of the Committee on Rules of Procedure

  • Olena Khomenko – Member of Parliament; Member of the Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence; Vice-President of PACE

  • Olha Koban – Associate Professor, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Law School

  • Anton Korynevych – Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

  • Denys Maslov – Member of Parliament; Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy

  • Maria Mezentseva – Member of Parliament; Member of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE

  • Anastasiia Mochulska – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

  • Oleksandr Pavlichenko – Human rights defender; Executive Director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union

  • Volodymyr Pylypenko – Associate Professor; Head of the Institute of International Law, Lviv University of Business and Law

  • Vitalii Salikhov – Advocate

  • Oleksandr Slyvchuk – Programme Coordinator, Transatlantic Dialogue Center

  • Olena Sviatun – Associate Professor of Comparative and European Law, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

  • Yuliia Tavolzhanska – Department of Criminal Law, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University

  • Oksana Zolotaryova – Director of the Department of International Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

  • Zoya Yarosh – Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Advocates Association; Deputy of Kyiv City Council

  • Oleg Yatsura – Director, NGO Tribunal

Video

Panel discussion 1

Panel discussion 2

Panel discussion 3

Panel discussion 4

Agenda

08:00 - 09:00
Registration, welcome coffee

09:00 - 09:30
Welcome speech

09:30 - 11:30
Panel 1 
 The modality of the Tribunal: UN, international treaty, hybrid format. Which one to choose? 

Moderator: Andrii Smyrnov, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
 

  • Stanislav Kravchenko, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court;

  • Aarif Abraham, Barrister, writer and speaker specialising in public international law, international criminal law and human rights;

  • Wayne Jordash, President of Global Rights Compliance, lead of the Mobile Justice Teams supporting Ukrainian OPG. Deputy of ACA;

  • Jörg Polakiewicz, Director of Legal Advice and Public International Law, Council of Europe;

  • Oleksandra Matviychuk, Head of the Centre for Civil Liberties, Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2022, member of the working group on the establishment of the Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
     

ONLINE

  • Richard Goldstone, South African former judge. First Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda;

  • Claus Kress, Professor of International Law and Criminal Law. Chair for German and International Criminal Law and he is the Director of the Institute of International Peace and Security Law at the University of Cologne;

  • Philippe Sands, British and French writer and lawyer at 11 King's Bench Walk and Professor of Laws and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London;

  • Rein Tammsaar, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Estonia to the United Nations. 

  • Franco Marcelo Fiumara, Lawyer, Criminal Court Judge of the 4th Judicial Department of La Matanza, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. PhD in Political Sciences, Legal Sciences, Criminal Procedure Professor in the Law School of La Matanza University.
     

11:30 - 12:00
Coffee break 

12:00 - 14:00
Panel 2

 The issue of personal and functional immunities in the practice of international criminal tribunals 

Moderator: Anton Korynevych, Ambassador-at-large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine 
 

  • Lesia Zaburanna, Member of Parliament, member of the working group on the establishment of the Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine;

  • Oleksandr Kachura, Member of Parliament, Co-Head of the inter-factional association "Tribunal for Russian Aggressors", member of the working group on the establishment of the Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine;

  • Vitaliy Salikhov, Member of the High Council of Justice of Ukraine;

  • Ivan Horodyskyy, Vice President of the Ukrainian Bar Association, Director of Dnistrianskyi Center


ONLINE

  • Frank Hoffmeister, Director for General Affairs and the Chief Legal Officer at European External Action Services (EEAS) and Professor of International Economic Law in the LLM in International and European Law programme of the Brussels School of Governance;

  • Carrie McDougall, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne;

  • Geoffrey Nice, British barrister. Lead prosecutor for the UN in trial of Slobodan Milošević's. Chair China Tribunal; Chair Uyghur Tribunal;

  • Max Baryshnikov, Partner at BKB Attorneys at law, Co-founder of the initiative group of the Civic Hub “Kick russia out of the UN”
     

14:00 - 15:00
Lunch

15:00 - 16:30
Panel 3
 Procedural aspects of international criminal tribunals. How to conduct a trial? 

Moderator: Denys Maliuska, Minister of Justice of Ukraine.
 

  • Gabija Grigaitė-Daugirdė, Vice-Minister of Justice of Lithuania;

  • Mathilde Philip-Gay, Professor of public law at Université Jean Moulin Lyon;

  • Oksana Zolotaryova, Director of the Department of International Law, MFA of Ukraine;

  • Oksana Blazhivska, Member of the High Council of Justice;

  • Iryna Mudra, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine.


ONLINE

  • David Scheffer, American lawyer and diplomat who served as the first United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues;

  • Jennifer Trahan, Clinical Professor at NYU's Center for Global Affairs and Director of their Concentration in International Law and Human Rights.

  • Stephan Hobe, Professor, Director of the Institute of Air Law, Space law and Cyber Law as well as Co-Director of the International Investment Law Centre Cologne;

  • Egils Levits, Latvian politician, lawyer, political scientist and jurist who served as the tenth president of Latvia
     

16:30 - 17:00
Coffee break 

17:00 - 17:10
Vladlen Maraiev, Ukrainian historian, PhD in History, Co-author of the YouTube channel “History Without Myths”. 
 Why was the Nuremberg Trials needed and why is a tribunal against the Russian leadership important? 

17:10 - 19:10
Panel 4
 The political significance of the tribunal. Why is it needed now? 

Moderator: Oleksandr Korniyenko, the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine;
 

  • Emanuelis Zingeris, Lithuanian MP, Head of Lithuanian delegation to PACE, Rapporteur of the PACE two resolutions and rapports of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, Vice president of European affaires Committee of Seimas;

  • Roderich Kiesewetter, Member of the German Bundestag, Spokesperson for crisis prevention, Foreign Policy Representative;

  • Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration;

  • Maria Mezentseva, Member of Parliament, Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE, member of the working group on the establishment of the Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine;

  • Denys Maslov, Ukrainian MP, Head of Verkhovna Rada Legal Policy Committee, member of the working group on the establishment of the Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine;

  • Olena  Khomenko, Member of Parliament, PACE Vice-President, member of the working group on the establishment of the Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine;

  • Sergiy Burlakov, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine;
     

ONLINE

  • Irwin  Cotler, Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, an Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and longtime Member of Parliament, and an international human rights lawyer;

  • Hans Corell, Ambassador (Ret.), Former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the UN;

  • David Crane,  American lawyer, former Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL);

  • Damien Cottier, Member of the National Council of Switzerland, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Chair of Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Rapporteur on the PACE Report on Legal and Human Rights consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine;

  • Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Latvian MP, part of a Committee of Foreign Affairs and a Committee of European Affairs. Head of Latvian delegation of the PACE;

  • Andrius Kubilius, Member of European Parliament, Chair of Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, Member of Committee on Foreign Affairs, Member of Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee, Former Prime Minister of Lithuania;

  • Mark S. Ellis, Executive Director of International Bar Association

Registration

Organizers

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Partners

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