Putin's sentence: Why international justice cannot yet punish a dictator

What will happen to them, as well as officers and soldiers of the Russian army, who not only participated in the war, but committed international crimes against civilians, made a focus. "20 years in prison, as they promised me, it is a punishment for them," says Elena from Donetsk region, who was detained in the occupation on suspicion of espionage in favor of Ukraine. And they said, "If you deserve - we will give a ball, and no - you will rot in prisons.

" " I want my abusers to experience everything I am. I think they will return to them, each of them will get their own. I will not forget any name, everything was written, "says another resident of Donetsk Olga. A few years ago, she was also detained in the occupation on suspicion of involvement in the commission of sabotage. electric current and kept in a pre -trial detention center for almost two years.

Documents of international crimes committed in Ukraine after February 24, 2022 say that people who have witnessed and victims of Russians' actions in occupation not only tell what was happening, but often try to mention In their opinion, they think they are often called only call sign, because the faces were hidden under masks, or the names may be fictional. But some can accurately describe the features recognize.

For the victims information about the invaders, and especially those who beat, kidnapped, killed, is no less important than the circumstances of a particular crime. Therefore, one can say that over a year more than a year from A full -scale war was formed by a request for justice. And this request can be at least 71 thousand military crimes.

This is how much according to the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, law enforcement officers were recorded after the start of a full -scale invasion. Also, do not forget those that were done before. Each of them can be both several victims and dozens of witnesses who are ready to say and expect that both direct executors and those who gave orders - from officers of specific units to the highest leadership of Russia, as well as on the dock will once be on the dock.

Belarus, which is also involved in this war on the side of the aggressor. But now, despite such a huge number of crimes, only a few hundred indictments have been in the Ukrainian courts. The reason is the heavy burden on the investigative bodies and the inability to investigate such an array of cases. And this is objective - no system, even British or American, could cope with this volume.

And especially when it comes to difficult cases that do not have access to the crime scene or the likely abusers. And especially when it comes to organizers of conducting the so -called special military operation in the territory of Ukraine. Therefore, it is obvious that Ukraine in this matter needs the help of international partners - in creating a special mechanism or even a few to punish international crimes that currently exist in international criminal law.

And this is genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. Of course, all crimes that occur in the territory of Ukraine should be investigated by domestic law enforcement agencies and considered in the Ukrainian courts. For this purpose, the Ukrainian Criminal Code has Article 438 - "Violation of the laws and customs of war".

But as we said, in the conditions of aggression and occupation, it is difficult to cover everything because of the large number and because of the lack of access. Therefore, international partners should come to the rescue, because international crimes are not only a matter of individual states, they are regarded by the world as socially dangerous deliberate encroachments on the vital interests of the international community, the foundations of the existence of states and peoples.

That is why, after the start of a full -scale invasion, not only Ukrainian investigators and prosecutors undertook the investigation, but a joint investigative group for the study of serious international crimes in Ukraine (JIT) was created, and the International Criminal Court (ICS) announced the beginning of investigation of international crimes committed in the territory Ukraine. And that is why Ukraine lobbies the creation of a special tribunal.

Currently, Ukraine's great efforts are aimed at approving and organizing a special tribunal on aggression. That is, structures that will consider one specific international crime from the above list. Back in September 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formed a working group headed by Presidential Office Andriy Ermak, who will work out the creation of such a tribunal.

The main lobbyists of this group are the Ambassador on special assignments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Anton Korinevich and Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Smirnov. They often explain why the tribunal for aggression should be created. It is worth noting that the crime of aggression is the easiest international crime for proving.

"It is not necessary to collect many evidence, unlike crimes against humanity or military crimes, because everything is clear, everything is open," says the ambassador from special instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Anton Korinevich. - There is an order of the President of Russia to start a "special military operation " in Ukraine". That is, the warning is aggressive, so it is obvious that it is probably involved in Russia as other leadership of Russia.

To create such a tribunal, you can go at least three different ways. And all of them, according to Andrei Smirnov are now being considered. The first - on the basis of the Agreement of Ukraine and the UN with the adoption of the relevant resolution of the UN General Assembly. The second is based on a multilateral open international treaty between the states of the civilized world.

The third - with the help of a hybrid mechanism, in which the tribunal is created both a court system in the national judicial system and can work both in Ukraine and abroad with the possibility of involving international judges in its work. The first two in the pubs are called acceptable. But the maximum work continues with the UN. Ukraine is actively preparing the text of the resolution on the creation of a special tribunal on the crime of Russia's aggression.

It should have been voted in April at a meeting of the General Assembly. "We have the desire to strengthen this resolution somewhat, the project we have. For example, we fight for the phrase" International condemnation mechanism for the crime And the tribunal we want to create, " - in particular, the chief consultant of the office of the head of the office of the President Oleg Gavrish.

"If we talk exclusively about the tribunal on aggression, then the General Assembly, indeed, is the site to work on," the lawyer of the Ukrainian legal advisory group and the Ukraine Coalition notes in the comment of the focus of the focus. Fifth in the morning "Alina Pavlyuk. Their countries themselves have repeatedly fallen victim to aggression. There may be a better one when Ukraine was bad - we were not paid attention to us.

Therefore, they need to be explained in order to obtain an effective mechanism that would prosecute the crime of aggression. Much support could would not only legitimize the mechanism, but the future of the decision. can be considered in part -time format. " At the same time, lawyers say that there are several important points that you should think before creating such a tribunal.

"Is it correct for the victims, their request for justice and the establishment of truth, to create only a tribunal on aggression, and not investigate crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes in the complex," Pavlyuk notes.

- Especially when the national justice system, which is Closened, has no effective tools to consider such cases, and the resources of the ISS, which is ready to take on individual incidents, such as, for example, to investigate only cases of deportation of children and attack on energy infrastructure. It may be worth thinking about a wide mandate for the tribunal.

" The lawyers with whom the focus spoke with, they say that they cannot yet explain why they are now exclusively about the crime of aggression. "We have heard a lot of stories that it's faster, cheaper. But experience says that it is not so-it takes time to create a tribunal. And not a fact that it is much easier to do than a tribunal with a wider mandate," says Army Mora lawyer .

- But the main thing is that this decision ignores the problem with other crimes, and also repels the illusion that there is no such problem. After you ask that with other crimes, or we hear: we all have normal - we will understand, or the chairman of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev is published And he says that the judges are ready to make decisions and develop their genocide standards.

And at the same time they state that investigators, prosecutors, judges are already very overloaded, there are little resources, but we will handle. " Interestingly, more and more states and individual institutions are raising around the issue of creating a special tribunal in Ukraine. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, as of March 14, 32 countries have already joined the coalition.

These include the United Kingdom, France, Germany, as well as institutions such as the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. However, most of them say that the world requires a special tribunal to prosecute the political and military leadership of Russia and its allies, in particular Belarus, and do not offer to be limited to a crime of aggression.

And while Ukraine was preparing the text of the resolution, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, which is known, does not support the creation of a separate special tribunal, issued warrants for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as Maria Lviv-Belova, who is an authorized President of the Russian Federation. The reason is the preliminary results of the investigation of cases of deportation of Ukrainian children.

"So the ISS declared his intention to bring Putin to justice, and they are not going to concede that," Alina Pavlyuk notes. She suggests that the suspected suspicion may slow down the UN resolution. "If you look at the processes from the side: the rhetoric of the MCS chief prosecutor in the Hague of Karim Khan, a message from a recent conference in London, you can see how the ICS progresses.

An investigation that cannot show a public result and a willingness to persecute the first person of the state. And here - we have suspicion. And the suspicion of President Vladimir Putin. So now the trump card is in the hands of Khan, "she continues. In Ukraine, the suspicions of Putin and Lviv-Beliv were met approved.

The Verkhovna Rada, for example, approved accordingly the resolution and called on the parties to the Roman Statute to take measures to execute the decision of the International Criminal Court on the issuance of a warrant for arrest.

However, the call seems a little strange on the background of the fact that Ukraine, which should ratify the Roman Statute itself (its based on the ISS), but does not do it for years, and therefore does not become a participant in the conditional "Roman Club" with appropriate influence.

The formal reason for the unbearable is the decision of the Constitutional Court, informal - fears that in the case of ratification on the dock may be the citizens of Ukraine who could commit international crimes. After issuing a warrant for the arrest of Putin and the Children's Commissioner of the Russian Federation, the process of investigation within the walls of the ISS does not stop - they, as well as other persons who may later be declared new suspicions.

In addition, the actions of the ISS will not prevent the creation of a tribunal or other special mechanism that was discussed earlier. Rather, the issue of investigation at the ISS level and the creation of a special joint is an interdependent issue, because, let us repeat, there is a lot of crimes - there will be enough work.

"When we are in a coalition of organizations engaged in documenting war crimes, we discuss the issues of justice, we try to start from the needs of the system that should cope with the consequences of conflict - that is, all crimes," Arie's Mora continues.

"And we try to ask people as they They see punishment for abusers, but we see that the dialogue is absent at the highest level, there is the following position: we have already come up, you support us, that is, probably the tribunal for aggression seek to put a point, to draw final legal conclusions. Whether the UN Member States will agree. I think if the resolution is voted, the wording will sound something like this: "Justice is important, the interests of the victims should be ensured.