PRESS RELEASE : Executive Director of the International Bar Association at a meeting with Andriy Smyrnov supported the creation of an international tribunal for Russia [September 2022]

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 13 September 2022.

Deputy Head of the Office of the President Andriy Smyrnov and Executive Director of the International Bar Association Mark Ellis discussed the creation of an international tribunal that will investigate the crime of aggression and try the highest political leadership of Russia.

“The scale of war crimes committed by Russians in Ukraine is staggering. Since the beginning of the war, more than 40,000 war crimes have been committed in our country. On the one hand, these are the direct executors – Russian soldiers and officers who raped, killed, tortured and gave criminal orders. But the main culprits are those who committed the “supreme international crime” – aggression and came to Ukraine with the war. This is Vladimir Putin and other top military and political leaders of Russia,” Andriy Smyrnov said at the meeting.

In order to restore justice and punish the perpetrators of this aggression, it is necessary to consolidate the efforts of the entire international legal community. Our goal is a fair trial and legal retribution, emphasized the Deputy Head of the President’s Office.

According to him, right now Ukraine should make it clear to all humanity that no one will avoid responsibility, just as Hitler and the leadership of Nazi Germany did not avoid it in the 1940s.

“In order to achieve legal retribution for the crime of aggression, we are initiating the creation of a special international tribunal, the mandate of which will be limited to proving guilt in committing the crime of aggression by Russia against Ukraine. I urge you to support this initiative. I urge you to use all your significant potential of knowledge and skills so that no culprit avoids punishment. For us to witness a fair trial and legal retribution for the country, the myth of whose power is crumbling before our eyes,” Andriy Smyrnov noted.

For his part, Mark Ellis said that he fully supports the creation of an international tribunal.

“The Russian leadership, in particular Vladimir Putin, disregarded the inviolable principles of international law by starting a war against Ukraine. Vladimir Putin committed the most serious crime – he committed aggression against your country. I believe that the court that will be created should focus on a narrow issue – Russia’s aggression. The International Bar Association and I are ready to support the international tribunal and do everything in our power to ensure that the crime of aggression is punished,” he said.

Executive Director of the International Bar Association Mark Ellis cooperated with the international tribunals on the issues of Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and initiated a program to support judges in Iraq. On his initiative, the eyeWitness to Atrocities mobile application was created, which allows to keep evidence of war crimes.