Germany’s foreign minister on Monday backed the creation of a special court to try Russian leaders over the invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow faces new war crimes charges over attacks on Ukraine’s Dnipro.
Annalena Baerbock, during a speech in The Hague, called for a “new format” of court to “bring Russian leaders to justice”, possibly using Ukrainian law, but based abroad with international judges.
“A war of aggression will not go unpunished”
The ICC is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. But it has no jurisdiction over Russia’s “crimes of aggression” because Moscow is not a signatory to the Court’s founding Treaty of Rome.
Since the beginning of the invasion, calls have increased for the creation of a court that can prosecute Russia’s crimes of aggression against Ukraine.
“We must send a clear message to the Russian leadership here and now that a war of aggression will not go unpunished,” said Annalena Baerbock of the Hague Academy of International Law.
“It is important for us to have an international component, for example, a location outside Ukraine, with financial support from partners and with international prosecutors and judges,” he continued. “It would be a new format,” she added.
Call to modify the statute of the International Criminal Court
The head of German diplomacy said then that she had discussed with Ukraine and other allies a “special solution” that could “derive its jurisdiction from Ukrainian criminal law.”
Annalena Baerbock has also called for changes to the statute of the ICC, which is located in The Hague, so that it can eventually try Russian officials for assault.
The only other way at the moment is through a UN Security Council resolution, but that would run into a veto from Moscow, which has a permanent seat there.
The kidnapping of Ukrainian children, “despicable crimes”
At a joint conference in The Hague, Annalena Baerbock and her Dutch counterpart, Wopke Hoekstra, also denounced Russia’s abduction of “tens of thousands of Ukrainian children” and vowed to expose these crimes. Annalena Baerbock vowed to take the issue to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, stressing that new EU sanctions against those responsible are being considered.
“As with all these crimes, they are heinous crimes,” Wopke Hoekstra added.
Germany’s appeal comes as EU officials condemned Saturday’s Russian attack on a residential building in Ukraine’s Dnipro that killed at least 40 people, including children, calling it a “war crime.” The Kremlin denied any responsibility for the strike. However, Berlin and The Hague have dodged the issue of Ukraine’s appeal to its allies to hand over Leopard battle tanks, which Berlin has so far refused to back.
“Of course we are talking about tanks. We will continue to see what is possible with our partners,” said Wopke Hoekstra, whose country sold most of its Leopards a decade ago but now operates a joint battalion with Germany.
Source: BFM TV
