Group to Create Special Tribunal for Crime of Aggression Already Includes 30 Countries

Thirty countries have joined the coalition that supports the creation of the Special Tribunal for the Russian crime of aggression against Ukraine. The latest addition to the group is Greece. 

"I am glad to let you know that there are already 30 countries. Greece joined the group today. Last weekend, it was 29. I said then that I had no doubt that there would be more participants by the next meeting of the group. And we can already see that it has started happening. The group’s goal is simple: when you join it, you agree that a separate, special tribunal for holding Russia accountable for the crime of aggression has to be established," Interfax-Ukraine quotes Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The group’s task is to develop legal ways to create the tribunal and solve its legal matters, primarily the immunity of the Russian President and his close circle. 

"All G7 countries are in this group," Kuleba added. 

On 3 March, Kuleba reported that 29 countries were in the coalition (Ukr), one of them being Guatemala, the first one from Latin America. 

The first meeting was held on 26 January 2023, with 21 countries taking part in the discussion at that time. 

The second meeting is to be held in Strasbourg on 21-22 March 2023. 

On 2 March 2022, the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched an investigation of possible crimes committed in Ukraine. In order to collect evidence of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine, a joint investigation group was created with several European judicial bodies in it. 

Whereas the ICC can consider war crimes committed by separate people, it does not have the right to hold anyone accountable for the crime of aggression. Due to this fact, Ukraine promotes the idea of establishing a special tribunal against Russia.