Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak held a meeting of the working group on the creation of a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
In his opening speech, he noted that Germany has become a stronghold of stability and democracy in particular because, after the end of World War II, the Nuremberg trials took place, which condemned the Nazi ideology and sentenced those involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity and peace.
"First of all, sentences to those who made decisions and gave orders. To those who unleashed one of the most terrible wars in the history of mankind. Neither the USSR nor Russia had their own "Nuremberg". So today, the Kremlin's ideology of imperial revanchism remains the main threat not only in Europe, but throughout the world. First of all, it poses an existential threat to Ukraine, to the very existence of our state," emphasized Andriy Yermak.
The Head of the President's Office is convinced that the world is obliged to give a proper assessment of what was seen in the Ukrainian cities liberated from the occupiers and heard from the freed Ukrainian prisoners and to punish all the guilty.
That is why, according to him, the creation of a special international tribunal is an undeniable priority for our country and personally for President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And this, in particular, is mentioned in the Ukrainian Peace Formula presented by the Head of State during the address to the leaders of the G20.
Andriy Yermak noted that Ukraine cannot create such a special tribunal on its own, therefore the participation and political will of international partners, with whom it is necessary to work actively, are necessary.
"They should understand very clearly where we are heading to and what our main goal is," said the Head of the President's Office.
He asked to regularly inform the heads of foreign diplomatic missions about the process of preparing the creation of the tribunal and to make sure that this issue is heard at all international meetings and platforms.
Among other things, an extremely important step towards the creation of a special tribunal should be the adoption of the appropriate resolution of the UN General Assembly, which will demonstrate the support of the international community for bringing Russian criminals to justice using all available mechanisms and tools, as well as the mechanism that must be created to punish those guilty of the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
The Head of the President's Office urged to work with the maximum number of countries, for example in Latin America, Asia, Africa, the support of which still needs to be secured.
As Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anton Korynevych noted, eight states have already agreed to work on finding the most effective options for creating a special tribunal. But we need to increase the number of such countries.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President Andriy Smyrnov noted that in recent months progress has been made in promoting the understanding that Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine is a question of the survival of the civilized world.
"It’s a question of whether absolutely strange maniacal attempts of individual dictators to carry out aggression against independent states will continue to go unpunished," he said.
Andriy Smyrnov informed that support for the establishment of a special international tribunal is being promoted in the framework of the parliamentary track. This is done by appealing to the parliaments of other countries to adopt relevant political decisions in support of the idea of creating a tribunal.
"There are things that require a more systematic approach and the dissemination of important narratives. In particular, that the tribunal is a non-alternative mechanism. That, unfortunately, no other mechanisms work," said the Deputy Head of the President's Office.
One of the initiators of the creation of "Tribunal for Russian Aggressors" inter-factional parliamentary association in the Verkhovna Rada, head of the permanent delegation of the Verkhovna Rada to PACE Maria Mezentseva emphasized that the parliaments of several countries, in particular the Netherlands and the Baltic countries, have already made decisions to support the creation of a special tribunal. Appropriate work is being done to promote this issue in the House of Representatives of the US Congress, the parliaments of France and Germany.
Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin spoke about the project to create the Interim Prosecutor's Office, which will deal with the procedural management of the investigation of the crime of aggression against Ukraine by the top Russian leadership. It can do it in one of the European cities with the support of international partners. This is a group of prosecutors who will collect and unify evidence in a foreign jurisdiction.
In addition, Andriy Kostin said that on December 1, consultations will be held for the first time among all countries that have opened criminal proceedings regarding the crime of Russian aggression on the basis of universal jurisdiction in order to coordinate and unify the efforts of national investigations.
Andriy Yermak also noted the importance of a complex and comprehensive international information campaign in support of the creation of a special tribunal. In particular, he suggested that during the opening of Russian War Crimes House exhibitions and other events dedicated to Russian war crimes, information should be given not only about these terrible facts, but also about the idea of creating a special international tribunal as a means of punishment for the crimes committed.