President VolodyMyr Zensky van Ukraine and the Council of Europe signed a decision on Wednesday evening in Strasbourg about the establishment of a special tribunal that the protagonists of the Russian invasion of Ukraine should prosecute, reports AFP news agency.
The independent and international court wants to prosecute the leaders that gave the order to invade Ukraine and to perform military actions, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, his prime minister and his Foreign Minister. The agreements that have been made show that they can only be prosecuted if they are no longer in office.
After signing the decision, Zensky said that Putin should be tried as a war criminal. “There is great political and legal courage to ensure that every Russian war criminal, including Putin, comes to court.”
The Netherlands would like to house the tribunal in The Hague. The preliminary investigation and the collection of evidence is already done by the International Center for the Prosecution of Aggression in The Hague.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has previously issued arrest trips against, among others, Putin for the kidnapping of Ukrainian children.
The Council of Europe is an international human rights organization with 47 Member States that is separate from the European Union and wants to focus specifically on the fundamental decision of Russia with the special tribunal to invade Ukraine.
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Council of Europe and Zensky signs Decree for establishing Special Tribunal