(Brussels) The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to work on the creation of a special tribunal to judge the “crimes of Russia” in Ukraine and on solutions to mobilize frozen Russian assets in order to rebuild the country, two companies that s ‘announce however difficult.
“While continuing to support the International Criminal Court (ICC, based in The Hague), we propose to set up a special tribunal supported by the United Nations to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crimes of aggression” against the Ukraine, said the president of the European executive Ursula von der Leyen, in a video posted on Twitter.
These proposals should be presented for discussion to the Member States. The creation of such a tribunal has been demanded on several occasions by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as by the Baltic countries.
“This is exactly what we have been proposing for a long time”, welcomed the chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidency, Andriï Yermak, on Telegram.
The ICC only has jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine, not Russia’s ‘crimes of aggression’, as Moscow is not a signatory to the Rome Treaty establishing the Court .
The ICC would not be able to try Russian President Vladimir Putin, his prime minister and his foreign minister, who enjoy immunity from prosecution while in office, the commission notes. “An ad hoc tribunal with jurisdiction over crimes of aggression would allow the prosecution of Russia’s most senior leaders who would otherwise enjoy immunity,” she continued in a preliminary document.
The Netherlands, which already hosts the ICC in The Hague, has indicated its availability to host a special tribunal.
But to set up such a court, broad international support will be necessary, recognizes the Commission. If the proposal doesn’t have a chance of passing the UN Security Council due to Russian opposition, it might have more resonance in the General Assembly.
Commission officials said they had had initial contacts with the United States – which is not a party to the ICC – on the matter, but no indication was given of any support from Washington.
19 billion assets of oligarchs frozen
The Europeans also want to discuss with their partners, particularly within the G7, their desire to make Moscow pay for the material destruction in Ukraine.
“Together with our partners, we will ensure that Russia pays for the devastation it has caused, using the frozen funds of the oligarchs and the assets of its central bank,” said Ursula von der Leyen.
EU member states have already frozen €19 billion in assets belonging to Russian oligarchs, and some €300 billion in Russian Central Bank reserves are frozen in the EU and other G7 countries. .
With regard to public assets, the Commission proposes to create “a structure to manage these funds and invest them”. The income thus generated could be used directly for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Once the sanctions are lifted, these Central Bank assets should be returned, but they could “be linked to a peace agreement to compensate Ukraine for the damages suffered”.
With regard to the assets of the oligarchs which have been frozen, their confiscation would only be possible in connection with a criminal offence. The EU is in the process of harmonizing the laws of its member states in order to uniformly punish the circumvention of sanctions, which could serve as a basis for such confiscation.
More than 20,000 Ukrainian civilians and over 100,000 military personnel have been killed or injured since the invasion of Ukraine began in February, the EU chief executive has said.
The damage suffered by Ukraine is, according to her, estimated at 600 billion euros.
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