Volodymyr Zelenskyy – 2022 Speech at Day of Employees of Prosecution Bodies of Ukraine

The speech made by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, on 1 December 2022.

Dear employees of the prosecution bodies of Ukraine!

Every year you hear approximately the same words on your professional day. Those are: order and judiciary, rule of law and legality, protection of human rights and freedoms, protection of the interests of the state and society. All these and other similar words, when they are combined, in total, give one thing – justice.

And justice is not only a vitally needed feeling, not only such a state of affairs in the country, without which life is not defined as full by the people. Justice is also a weapon.

It is an effective weapon of deterrence.

When society has such a weapon, people are protected from many manifestations of crime. Because justice deprives crime of its energy, preventing its possible outbreaks and guaranteeing the inevitability of punishment.

When justice is not just for one nation but is present in international relations in general, the world is reliably protected – protected from aggression. Because justice at the international level means that anyone who becomes an aggressor and starts a criminal war will not only be punished for it but also compensate for all the damages caused by their aggression.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

It is you who, together with other law enforcement officers, create this weapon for Ukraine and form a reliable basis for its use. And this year it became obvious that this task is not only about Ukraine. This task is global. Because justice for Ukraine is equal to justice for the world.

To ensure that such a war, which Russia started against us, would never happen again, all Russian murderers and executioners, all their accomplices, all Russian marauders and war propagandists, as well as all authors of Russian genocidal policy, must be brought to justice. Those who planned and launched the aggression. Those who approve and organize the terror against our cities and the deportation of our people.

Almost 50 thousand crimes against peace, human security and international legal order committed as a result of Russian aggression have already been documented. Our law enforcement agencies are assisted by leading experts from various partner countries in the painstaking work of collecting evidence and establishing the circumstances of the atrocities committed by the Russian occupiers. Substantive cooperation with the International Criminal Court has been established, and the opening of the ICC field office in Ukraine is being prepared. I thank everyone who works for such investigations!

And we will have one hundred percent justice when we are sure that the top Russian political and military leadership will be brought to justice. That is why the Office of the President of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General and all other relevant institutions of Ukraine pay so much attention to the establishment of the Tribunal on the Russian crime of aggression against Ukraine. The Tribunal, which will complement our national legal capabilities and the existing potential of the International Criminal Court. The Tribunal, which will make it possible to bring to justice the authors of the aggression.

And I believe that the work of Ukrainian prosecutors, inter alia, will be put at the heart of an indictment in the Special Tribunal on the aggression. So, please do your best and always remember that justice must be the result of all our efforts. Right now, right here in Ukraine, we are gaining justice for the whole of Europe and many nations of the world.

I congratulate you on your professional holiday!

Glory to Ukraine!