War in Ukraine: the EU wants a special tribunal to try “Russian crimes”

The EU will work to set up a special tribunal to try "Russia's crimes" in Ukraine and wants to mobilize frozen Russian assets to rebuild the country, European Commission President Ursula von announced on Wednesday. der Leyen.

"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, she said in a video posted on Twitter.

Russia must pay for its horrific crimes.

We will work with the ICC and help set up a specialized court to try Russia's crimes.

With our partners, we will make sure that Russia pays for the devastation it caused, with the frozen funds of oligarchs and assets of its central bank pic.twitter.com/RL4Z0dfVE9

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 30, 2022

The creation of such a tribunal has been called for several times by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“We are ready to start working with the international community to gain the widest possible international support for this tribunal,” von der Leyen explained.

Read alsoWar in Ukraine: could the International Criminal Court convict Vladimir Putin?

The President of the Commission also wants to make Moscow pay for the material destruction in Ukraine.

Russia must pay 'for the devastation' it has caused

"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," she said.

The EU has already blocked 300 billion euros in Russian Central Bank reserves and frozen 19 billion euros in assets belonging to Russian oligarchs, she recalled.

“In the short term, we could create (…) a structure to manage these funds and invest them.

We will then use these funds for Ukraine,” said Ursula von der Leyen.

“Once the sanctions are lifted, these funds should be used for Russia to pay compensation for the damage caused to Ukraine.

We will work on an international agreement with our partners to make this possible.

And together, we can find legal ways to achieve that,” she said.

Ukrainian damage estimated at 600 billion euros

More than 20,000 Ukrainian civilians and more than 100,000 military personnel have been killed 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.

“Russia must pay for its horrible crimes,” insisted Ursula von der Leyen.

In September, the Czech Republic, which holds the six-monthly presidency of the Council of the EU, had already come out in favor of the creation of a special court, after the discovery of hundreds of bodies buried near Izium, a city taken over to the Russians in eastern Ukraine.

The Baltic countries had also called in September for the establishment of such a tribunal.