The plan for a special tribunal to try Russia's crimes in Ukraine could "
doom to failure
" the ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the court's prosecutor warned on Monday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed setting up a UN-backed special tribunal to prosecute Russia's crimes of aggression against Ukraine.
Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, in response urged the international community to focus on supporting - and funding - the ICC, which is currently carrying out its own investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
Read alsoKarim Khan: “Justice has its place in the ruins and the desolation of the battlefields”
“
We cannot be doomed.
We need the tools to do the job.
We don't have those tools
,” Khan told reporters at an annual meeting of the ICC's 123 member countries in The Hague.
The prosecutor claimed that there had been "
a lot of promises that any initiative (for a special tribunal) would not undermine the Court
", but that the ICC was already facing a budget shortfall.
“
We should avoid fragmentation and prefer consolidation instead
,” he said.
Moscow is not a party to the ICC
The ICC only has jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine and not Russia's '
crimes of aggression
', as Moscow is not a signatory to the Rome Treaty establishing the Court .
"
An ad hoc tribunal with jurisdiction over crimes of aggression would allow the prosecution of Russia's most senior leaders who would otherwise enjoy immunity
," the European Commission explained.
According to Khan, member states could find ways to allow the ICC to prosecute a non-member country for the crime of aggression.
Brussels was also wrong about the immunity of Russian leaders, the prosecutor said, adding that he would raise the issue with Ursula von der Leyen in person.
"
The EU has obviously twisted the law
," he said.
“
They don't seem to have been equipped with a full understanding of the Rome Statute
,” he added.
Ukraine and several Western countries have backed calls for a special tribunal, and the Netherlands has offered to host it.
Moscow believes that such a court would be illegitimate.
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