Baerbock: a special tribunal needed to put Russian leadership on trial

A special international tribunal should be established to prosecute Russian leaders over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday, Reuters reports.

In a keynote speech at the Academy of International Law in The Hague, where the International Criminal Court is based, she said what is needed is “a tribunal that can investigate the Russian leadership and put them on trial.”

Baerbock pointed out that Ukraine’s concerns that Russia cannot be prosecuted for its aggression before the ICC are understandable, as this court can deal only with cases in which both the plaintiff and the defendant are its members or a case is referred by the U.N. Security Council.

However, Russia is not an ICC member but is a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, able to block any referral to the ICC.

“We talked about working with Ukraine and our partners on the idea of setting up a special tribunal for crimes of aggression against Ukraine,” said Baerbock, adding that such a body could derive its jurisdiction from Ukrainian criminal law.

To guarantee its impartiality and legitimacy, the tribunal could be supplemented with international elements, such as a location outside Ukraine, financial support from partners and international prosecutors and judges, according to Germany’s foreign minister.

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