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President's Office, Human Rights Watch agree to cooperate in countering Russia's aggression
KYIV. Feb 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Smirnov has held a meeting with representatives of the largest U.S. human rights organization Human Right Watch, the parties agreed to cooperate in countering Russian aggression.
According to the press service of the President, during the meeting, in particular, the issue of creating a special international tribunal that will judge the Russian military and political leadership was raised.
“Neither the crime of genocide nor the crime against humanity would have happened if the main crime – the crime of aggression – had not occurred. Since the first days of the escalation in February 2022, we have been searching for ways to bring to justice the people who unleashed the largest conflict since the Second World War. We have studied all the historical examples of how the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals worked, as well as the possibilities of the International Criminal Court (ISS). And they realized that the only possible way to quickly punish Russia’s top political and military leadership would be to create a tribunal,” Smirnov said.
He emphasized that Ukraine closely cooperates with the ISS in the investigation of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
“We have adopted many laws that allow the ISS to investigate any crimes inside Ukraine and contribute to the court in this as much as possible,” Smirnov said.
“We are faced with the fact that over the past 70 years in the world no one has been held accountable for the crime of aggression. Russia came to Ukraine with aggression back in 2014, in 2008 they attacked Georgia. This country is spreading terror and chaos everywhere. And it has never been punished for this,” the adviser to the head of the President’s Office added.
He also recalled that in March last year, the Office of the President of Ukraine began favoring the idea of creating a tribunal, and three months later it was supported by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. Now there are already six resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, five decisions of the European Parliament, resolutions of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO and the OSCE. Also, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Riigikogu of Estonia, the Parliament of the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, France, Latvia, Slovakia adopted resolutions supporting the creation of a special tribunal.
“The first meeting of the Core Group was held, which included 21 countries and where the model of the tribunal’s work is being discussed. Also, in the near future, an Interim Prosecutor’s Office will start working in The Hague, which will collect evidence of the crime of aggression. In the near future, we are waiting for a resolution of the UN General Assembly, which will call for the punishment of Russia for the crime of aggression,” Smirnov told representatives of Human Right Watch.