In The Hague, they are looking for a place to hold a tribunal over Putin: it could begin in a year

The municipality of The Hague will soon start looking for a suitable venue for a future tribunal against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Writes about it Moscow Times.

Photo: IStock

“It is important that Putin, who unleashed a terrible war in Ukraine, does not go unpunished when it ends,” said Sjord Sjordsma, a member of the lower house of the Dutch parliament, one of the authors of the initiative.

He acknowledged that the moment when the Russian president will stand trial is still far away.

“But let's make sure that if such a situation arises, we will be ready and really able to hold him accountable,” the parliamentarian said.

The Hague already hosts the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating war crimes in Ukraine. The ICC has previously convicted war criminals through separate tribunals.

For example, in 2016, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to 40 years in prison for war crimes and genocide committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Later, the sentence was toughened: Karadzic was sentenced to life imprisonment.

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However, Sjordsma notes that a separate tribunal is needed to try Putin.

“Now it is legally impossible through the ICC. Now there is not a single tribunal capable of judging him. The ICC can judge Putin's henchmen, but not himself," the deputy admitted.

The parliamentarians will ask Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra to seek support from the European Union and the United Nations to set up a tribunal that will try Putin directly.

However, some European leaders do not support such an idea due to the mixed results of previous military tribunals.

Representatives of Ukraine have already requested the establishment of such a tribunal. It will be done with the participation of the best international lawyers who already have experience in such processes. Eleven countries have tentatively approved the creation of the tribunal. The court will be able to start work in about a year, writes Currently,.

In addition, Oleg Gavrish, a member of the Ukrainian working group on the creation of a special tribunal, said that it is even possible to create a tribunal to try propagandists, but "it is only in its infancy."

Gavrish noted that a year is needed to create the tribunal.

“The Tribunal will begin to consider whether the highest political leadership is guilty of the crime of aggression. We are clearly confident that they will be recognized as suspects, they will be issued a suspicion and an arrest warrant. This is what they will get. And in the absence of the accused, no one will judge them. When an arrest warrant is issued, if Puti or Lavrov, since there is no immunity here, or anyone from the Russian Security Council in general, ends up in the countries that have joined this tribunal, they will be arrested and taken to where the tribunal itself will be located. So far we are planning, based on preliminary agreements, that it will be Holland, The Hague. They will be kept in the UN prison in The Hague. This is in case they are arrested,” Gavrish notes. - If they do not arrest, then justice must prevail. The civilized world is obliged to recognize them as war criminals. They will become unshakeable. No one will meet or talk to them. Even if they arrive in China or Turkey, Interpol inspectors will already be looking for them there and handing over an arrest warrant. If proven guilty, they will receive from 30 years in prison to life in prison simply for starting a war. This is international law."

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At the same time, “the opinion of Russia is absolutely not important” when creating a tribunal, no agreements and permits are needed.

The Baltic states are calling on the EU to help set up an international tribunal against Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin. Latvian President Egils Levits, who previously served as a judge on the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, called for the speedy establishment of a special tribunal for violations of the 1945 United Nations charter.

Such a tribunal would be analogous to the courts for crimes committed in Rwanda, Cambodia and the former Yugoslavia. Levits considers this form of prosecution to be optimal: it would eliminate legal loopholes, which the ICC or the European Court of Human Rights cannot. A special tribunal would potentially complement the role of the ICC, which is already investigating Russia's actions in Ukraine. But such investigations can take years.

Critics of the initiative, referring to the experience of the ICTY, point out that investigations and hearings in this format can take years. The court for the former Yugoslavia sentenced a number of war criminals, but lasted 24 years.

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