Pending the establishment of a special court to try Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine (see EUROPE 13074/3), the European Commission is trying to move forward on intermediate solutions.
Such a court needs the support of many international partners and the United Nations, and this will take time, the EU Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, told the European Parliament on Wednesday 18 January. This is why the Commission is working on the establishment of an international prosecutor’s office, in the medium term, to initiate and continue the investigations already underway, and to gather evidence of the crime of aggression, with a view to potential future trials.
“Discussions are ongoing on legal or security issues with several actors, including the Ukrainian authorities, Eurojust or the International Criminal Court (ICC)”, the EU Commissioner said.
MEPs could not but support the Commission’s steps, as they had already called in May 2022 for the establishment of a special court to judge the crime of aggression (see EUROPE 12956/5).
“We need a special court, to try Vladimir Putin, but also Alexander Lukashenko, as he allowed Belarusian territory to be used for Russia’s criminal aggression”, said Andrius Kubilius (EPP, Lithuania).
In a resolution to be put to the vote on 19 January, the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and ECR groups call again for the establishment of a special court to judge the crime of aggression, which would “complement the investigative efforts of the International Criminal Court and its Prosecutor”, according to the MEPs.
Similar to the Commission, they also refer to the establishment of an interim investigative mechanism, which they call the “Interim Prosecutor’s Office” (IPO) and which could “be a very important practical step forward in the investigation and prosecution of the crime of aggression”.
Like the European Commission, the authors of the resolution call on Ukraine to ratify the Rome Statute establishing the ICC. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)